


The dog who belong to a murderer

by SaritAadam



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Todd Brotzman, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Todd Brotzman/Farah Black, office!AU, or at least it was until it became out of control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-19 20:53:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11906016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaritAadam/pseuds/SaritAadam
Summary: Farah walked into Todd’s office: “Oh,” she said, seeing Dirk. “Do I interrupt something?”“Not at all!” Dirk answered. “I was just telling Todd that I accidentally met an old client last night.”“Really?” the woman took a seat next to him.“Yes!” All of Dirk's attention was now directed toward Farah. “He asked me where I'm working now because he has some…”Todd stopped listening and kept working on his accounts. It had only taken a few days for Farah to stop considering Dirk a total loony and liking him instead. He was magic with the clients, his craziness saved by the fact that he always seemed to know what would make them content. When Farah asked him how he did it, he responded that it was dumb luck. And he wasn't just appreciated by the clients; all his colleagues were under his charm. All of them except Todd.Todd hated the guy.Office!au where Todd is an accountant and Dirk the new account manager. At first, Todd couldn't stand Dirk but little by little, and after being dragged into various shenanigans, he became fond of him. This is the story of how they fell in love, featuring Farah as a wingman, Amanda and the Rowdy 3 as a punk rock band and other cameos from our favorite characters.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was write for the dghda Big Bang. Go check the awesome art by solomandr: https://solomandr.tumblr.com/post/164644789262/fffinallyy-my-contribution-to-dghdabigbang-is  
> Also a huge thanks to my beta http://swansongcas.tumblr.com/

Todd knocked at the door and walked into the office before its owner said anything. Usually, when they decided to go get a drink after work, Farah was already ready to go when he came to get her. Today however, she was still sitting in front of her computer, a file open on her desk.

“Still busy?” Todd asked, walking across the room.

The human resources director looked up at him, confused for a moment before understanding struck her. “Is it already time? Of course it is. Todd wouldn't be here if it wasn't. Stupid. _Stupid._ You're making Todd wait.”

“I'm not waiting,” he said. After working with Farah for almost three years, he was more than use by her babbling. Todd took the paper on top of the file, a resume: “What are you working on?”

Farah laid back in her seat and sighed: “Still working on finding a new account manager. Well, I may have found one but he's...”

“This guy?” he asked, pointing to the resume in his hands. Farah nodded. “What's the issue?”

“He's way over qualified! Look at his former job: he worked in a multinational! And he was in charge of Big Clients!” Todd could hear the capitals in her words. “We're just a little company, so when I saw this resume I was suspicious. And then I saw the dates; he started working in a little company in his home town right after college, and after only three months they sent him to London, to work in their headquarters. When he joined the multinational, they transferred him to a new city every year and gave him the important clients almost immediately.”

Todd knew his friend was talking mostly for herself, but he couldn't help but ask, “Maybe he's lying?”

“I checked.” Farah pointed at the rest of the file and Todd could see it was references. “I called every former boss and they all confirmed what was in their letters and that he's one the best employees they had. When I asked his last manager why he left their company, she told me that she doesn't know, he just showed up one morning and resigned, and nothing she could say would change his mind. The morning after that, I received his resume! I was a little curious, so I scheduled an interview, and when I asked why he want to work for us, he said he had... a 'hunch'?! that it was 'what the universe wanted'?! But I mean... he doesn't make sense?! I asked Estevez if he could investigate a little but the guy's clean; no record, no questionable affiliation, nothing!”

During her speech, Farah had tensed. Sitting at the edge of her seat, visibly overwhelmed, she was looking at Todd, expecting his reaction. If the accountant was honest, she kind of worried him at that moment.

“So...” he said hesitantly, “why does he want to work for us?”

“He's a loony.”

Leave it to Farah to used a word like “loony” and made it menacing. But she was probably right. No one in their right mind would want to get hired in a company which couldn't give you the pay your qualification required. But it wasn't Todd's business.

“Well, he could be useful to us. Maybe you should hire him.”

“You're probably right, I'll call him,” she said before recalling the hour. “... tomorrow.”

“Come on,” Todd smiled. “you need a drink. First beer on me.”

“Nice.” She smiled back as she put the file away.

After a few drinks, Farah was a lot less tense and Todd kind of forgot about his incoming colleague.

 

* * *

 

The next morning was a bad one for Todd. There was an electrical cut during the night, so his alarm clock didn't ring and he started rushing, convinced that he overslept half an hour before realizing he was, in fact, up thirty minutes early. He then sat down and relaxed with a nice cup of coffee. But the coffee had another plan, which was to end up on Todd's clean new white shirt. The accountant changed his shirt and then realized he was out of coffee. Todd tried to stay calm, he could go and eat his breakfast at the little coffee shop in the same street as the office. He installed himself in his car and rolled, trying to relax himself. In the middle of the rush hour traffic, while he was thinking of the sweet coffee in his near future, his car decided to break down at a cross light. Following a few minutes of wild panic from Todd, the motor started up on its own, but when Todd finally arrived at the office parking lot, exhausted, done with life, and with a craving for caffeine, he had only fifteen minutes to go to the shop, buy his breakfast and start working.

As he was crossing the road, a voice with a strong British accent called him, “Excuse me, sir!”

Todd turned and saw a man with a bright yellow jacket coming toward him, waving a green sparkly folder.

“Did you lose your wallet?”

“No...” Todd answered, showing the wallet he had in his hand.

“Oh, sorry. It's just that I found the wallet and then I saw you so of course I thought...”

“O-okay- euh- It's obviously a woman's so-”

“Oh really? How did you know?” the stranger interjected genuinely curious.

“Euh- the design, the color, the... glitter...”

“Nonsense! A man could love a little glitter on his accessories. You're quite the judgmental type, aren't you?”

“Why-I'm- Why am I even talking to you?!” Todd finally realized. “I don't have time to deal with you!”

Then, he walked away and went right in the coffee shop. He saw with delight that it was empty, except of course for the barista and a lady who was talking lowly on the phone. He then realized, with a lot less delight, that the British man had followed him inside. He first thought that he wanted to bother the barista with his lost wallet, but once Todd started leaving with his breakfast, he followed without having spoken to anyone. Todd stopped in front of the door, “Stop following me!”

“Don't worry, I won't do it for long, I have an appointment. But I would like to return the purse to its owner before that-”

“Just give the fucking thing to the police.”

“No,” the man laughed softly, “I can't do that!”

“Why not?”

The British man opened his mouth to answer but stopped before any sound could come out of it. He seemed to be thinking about the question. Todd sighed, “Why are you following me?”

“Well, you seem to know what you're doing so I felt like it was a good idea to.”

“That doesn't make any sense!”

“Actually-”

“No, shut up!” To Todd's surprise, the other man obeyed. He didn't seem that bothered to be yelled at. “I didn't lose my wallet, okay? This is not my wallet and I don't know whose wallet it is. So please leav-”

“Excuse me” the other customer cut in. “Did you find a wallet?”

“Yes I did!” the British man replied with a huge smile. “It was across the street-”

Todd fled.

 

* * *

 

Todd arrived at the company just in time. He met his boss, Patrick Spring, in the elevator, who looked at him and noted his appearance, “You seem tired, Todd.” When he ran into Farah, she was a lot more direct: “Wow. You look like crap.”

The accountant finally reached his office and fell into his chair. He turned on his computer and opened an Excel file, decided to fake working at least as long as he needed to eat his breakfast.

He was still pretending half an hour later when Farah knocked at the door. She opened the door just enough for her to poke her head inside, “The new guy's here. Can I introduce him to you or have you got too much work?”

“No no, I can meet him” the man responded, standing.

“Alright.” Farah opened the door completely and stepped into the office, revealing the new account manager, with a familiar face. “Todd, this is-”

“You!” the two men exclaimed simultaneously, one with much more anger than the other, the other with a lot more excitement.

Farah raised an eyebrow, “You know each other?”

“We met this morning,” answered the British man. “He helped me return a wallet to its rightful owner. But I had no idea you were working here! It's wonderful! But I shouldn't be that surprised to be honest! I'm Dirk by the way, Dirk Gently.” Dirk stretched his hand out to Todd, who shook it automatically while shooting a distressed look at Farah, who replied with an interrogating one. Dirk kept talking, rather excitedly, “I'm sure we will get along well! I can tell we have a lot of things in common like... working here! I'm really exciting to working with you Todd.”

That morning was definitively an awful one.

 

* * *

 

Dirk walked in Todd’s office without a knock, joyful as usual: “Hello Todd! How are you this morning? I have the bill for yesterday’s dinner!”

Todd sighed. Dirk started working here for a week and, until now, his job had consisted mostly of meeting clients during business dinners. Which means that every morning, Dirk had restaurant bills to be payed back, and so there was not a day where Todd didn’t interact with the exuberant man.

“Just give it to me.”

Dirk obeyed and sat in front of Todd’s desk, smiling, and started to ramble, much to Todd’s greatest annoyance: “Mrs Lee is really a wonderful woman! A little strict perhaps, but you don’t end up managing three pet shops by being all sweet. And I think she’s kinda not _not_ like me, so it’s all nice! Also, you won’t believe who I met after that-”

He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Farah opened it: “Oh,” she said, seeing Dirk. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Not at all!” Dirk answered. “I was just telling Todd that I accidentally met an old client last night.”

“Really?” the woman took a seat next to him.

“Yes!” All of Dirk's attention was now directed toward Farah. “He asked me where I'm working now because he has some issues…”

Todd stopped listening and kept working on his accounts. It had only taken a few days for Farah to stop considering Dirk a total loony and start liking him instead. He just was kind of magic with the clients, his craziness saved by the fact that he always seemed to know what would make them content. When Farah asked him how he did it, he responded that “it’s just… you know... luck?” And he wasn't just appreciated by the clients; all his colleagues were under his charm. All of them except Todd.

Todd hated the guy.

And the worst part was that Dirk didn’t seem to notice. He even seemed to like Todd. He was always smiling at him, trying to engage him in conversation and eating with him and Farah every lunch. All of Todd’s grumpy comments were answered with a silly sentence and a bright smile, which made Todd a little more frustrated every time.

“Why are you angry at Dirk?” Farah had asked him the day before when she had came into his office.

“I-I-” Todd had stuttered, surprise. “I’m not angry at him.”

“You’re not?” The woman’s glare had been eloquent enough.

“Alright, I may not really… like him.”

“Why? He’s a nice guy.”

“Come on, he’s a total weirdo. A really clingy weirdo.”

“Are you _mad_ because a good looking man wants to hang out with you?”

“He’s not that good looking” had been all Todd had come up with to answer. He knew it wasn’t true. And he knew that Farah knew he knew.

Todd turn back into back at the conversation as Dirk concluded his story: “-And he promised me to call her. Also, this made me think: we should sell fabric.”

“Fabric?” Farah asked, confused. “But, we sell supplies for pet shop. That- that’s what we do- We-”

“I know, but if we do it, we could sell the fabric to the companies who create pet clothes, and then buy their products to sell them to the pet shops. This way we could control the quality of what we’re selling.”

“But, it’s not how things work-”

“Why not?”

Dirk’s question was absolutely genuine, which confused Farah more. Todd saw that she was ready to explained in details how the market worked, and he would prefer she do that anywhere other than in front of his desk: “Did you come here for a reason, Farah?”

Farah looked at him and blinked: “Yes. I was just on my way to get a coffee at the vending machine and I thought that maybe you wanted to join me.”

“Yeah, sure.” Todd answered, standing up.

“You want to come too Dirk?”

“I would love too” he said, completely failing to be casual.

They did all the way with Dirk talking and were almost in front of the machine when a teenage girl entered the corridor: “Lydia!” Farah exclaimed.

“Hi, Farah.”

“Why aren’t you at school?” the woman asked as she arrived in front of Lydia.

“A teacher’s absent and...”

“Good morning!” Dirk cut in, extending his hand toward her. The teenager looked at him extremely confused, but eventually grabbed the hand and answered with a baffled: “Hi?”

“Euh… Lydia, this is Dirk Gently, our new account manager. Dirk, this is Patrick’s daughter.”

“Nice meeting you.”

“Dirk,” Todd called from the vending machine once it was obvious than the other man would not leave the ladies alone, “can you come here?”

Todd didn’t watch if the other man obeyed, but he felt him stopping next to him as he watched his cup falling from the machine.

“They seem close,” Dirk said.

“They are.”

“Farah seems close to Patrick Spring too.”

“Her father was already working for him when she was a child” Todd answered with a harsher ton than necessary, but he knew what people assumed about Farah’s relationship with Spring.

Dirk hummed while Todd grabbed his coffee. Than, he stepped back from the machine, but Dirk didn’t use it, he never did. He was still looking at Farah and Lydia, lost in his thoughts. Eventually, he looked back at Todd: “How-”

“Listen,” Todd cut him, “if you want to know Farah’s life just go ask her.”

Dirk was baffled: “I did-”

“Anyway, I have work to do so...”

“Y-Yes of course. So… see you later!” Dirk stammered as the other man was already turning his back on him. Todd tried to ignore the fact that Dirk’s voice was hurt.

 

* * *

 

“Sorry for bothering you, Ken” Todd said to the technician the next morning. “It’s probably nothing.”

“Don’t worry” Ken answered. “For once it’s not Dirk asking me, it’s kinda refreshing.”

“Dirk? Does he need help a lot?”

“Several times a day for the more little things. I don’t know if he’s really that bad with technology or if it’s the computer who doesn’t like him.”

“It must be frustrating.”

“It was at first, especially when he started rambling and wouldn’t let me go for half an hour, but I get used to it. He’s a nice guy. He reminds me of my best friend.”

“Your best friend?”

“Yeah.” Ken paused before saying with embarrassment: “You met her at the Christmas party last year.”

Todd remembered of the woman the technician brought with him, a bounty hunter with a murderous aura who was mysteriously covered with dirt. She had ended up arresting the caterer the company had engaged. Todd didn’t see how she and Dirk were alike but he didn’t mention it.

“Your computer needs to be updated. If you need to-”

Ken was interrupted by Dirk, opening the door, a corgi under one arm and a kitten under the other, and screaming: “Todd! I need help! Oh, hi Ken!”

Ken waved at Dirk while Todd exclaimed: “Dirk? What the hell?! What are you doing bringing your pets here?!”

“They’re not mine.” He dropped the two pets on the desk, the dog stayed still whereas the cat started exploring. “I found them on my way here. They were lost.”

“Okay. Why-” Todd interrupted himself the time to grab the kitten who was chewing a piece of cardboard. He posed it on the floor. “Why do you need my help?”

“Because Rapunzel here,” Dirk patted the dog’s head, “has a plate with an address, but it’s an hour of car travel to go there and I don’t owe a car.”

“So, you want me to drive you.”

Dirk nodded with fervor at first but then realized: “I mean… I would like, if it’s okay with you.”

Todd looked at Ken who kept his eyes on the computer’s screen, working and trying not to drawn into this mess. Which, from Todd’s point of view, was fair.

He sighed heavily: “Alright, I’ll drive you after work.”

Dirk’s face lit up with a huge smile: “Thank you Todd! I knew I could count on you!”

Todd felt a little embarrassed by the other man thankfulness he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have to responded anything as Ken spoke: “Mr. Spring found your cat.”

The two men turned around and saw by the open door their boss, petting the kitten he had took in his arms. Dirk gasped and rushed toward Spring, already apologizing. Todd looked at the dog, still on his desk. She looked back.

 

* * *

 

“How did you survive five years in America without car?” Todd complained. He and Dirk had already been on the road for already forty-five minutes, and Todd congratulated himself on not having thrown Dirk out the car.

“With the public transport. It’s not my fault no driving school wanted to give me my license! They said I was a public danger on the road.”

Todd looked at Dirk in the corner of his eyes. The statement didn’t seem to bother the English man. Todd decided that he never wanted to know how he drove. He threw a quick look at the pets who were sleeping in the back seat. “You didn’t tell me how you found them.”

“Oh, well, I was walking in the street when I saw the dog searching for food in the garbage, so I took her and stopped to buy her something to eat. When I left the store the kitten followed us so I took him too.”

“Wait… You just, took him? Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t think that he lived in the areas and followed you because you had food?”

“Don’t be stupid Todd, I found the kitten the same time I found the dog, they had to be connected.”

“But-”

“We’re here Todd!” Dirk interrupted him. “Pull the car over!”

Todd obeyed and parked in front of the address Rapunzel’s plate indicated. He and Dirk looked by the window a moment.

“The house burned down” Dirk stated.

“Are you sure it’s the right address ?”

“Hum hum” he nodded. Todd looked back at him, meeting Dirk’s exciting glare: “Let’s investigate!”

“W-What?” Todd exclaimed but Dirk was already out of the car. “Investigate?” He got out too and joined Dirk who was getting the pets. “What do you mean-”

“Here” Dirk put the corgi into Todd’s arms.

“What do you mean “investigate”?” asked Todd while he arranged the dog against his chest.

Dirk took the cat and tucked it in his green jacket. “We have to know where their owner are so we could bring them back safely.”

“Or we could call the shelter.”

Dirk stopped and looked Todd in the eyes: “You already told me to go to the police when I found the purse.”

“Well, it’s their jobs.”

“Do you never take action, Todd?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone to help someone, or have you always walked away because somebody else would do it anyway?”

“Well, maybe I walked away, but what’s the point of taking action for a purse? For a lost dog? You’re just wasting your time for nothing!”

“Not for nothing Todd! It’s…” Dirk stopped and took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his ton was lower: “Maybe it’s nothing for you but someone actually took time and money to give Rapunzel a plate so she could be returned to them. Someone care about her and is worried right now. How could you acknowledge that, and just walk away? If my…” He stopped again, bitting his lips. When he spoke again, he simply said: “I just want to help.”

Todd and Dirk stood a moment in silence, looking at each other. Todd didn’t remember seeing so much pain and passion into someone eyes. Dirk he’s the one to break the silence: “Can we at least asked the neighbors if they know something? Just one neighbor. I promise you could go home after!”

“We can go asked them.”

Dirk nodded and walk toward the nearest house. When he reached the door, he had regained his composure.

The person who answered the door was a tired middle aged woman who gave them a suspicious look. Once Dirk explained the situation to her, she relaxed a little. “You’re looking for Gordon Rimmer.”

“Do you know where we could find him?”

“In jail. The firefighters found a old body in his house and he’s waiting his trial.”

“Well it’s… untoward.” Dirk said. Next to him, Todd became livid.

They walked back to the car. Dirk was distractedly petting the kitten. “I should contact Gordon Rimmer and tell him I have his dog.”

“Great idea if you want to meet a killer.”

“Well, it could maybe help someday to have a killer by my side.” Dirk smiled playfully and Todd rolled his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Farah was with Todd in the office, looking for the last month accounting, when Dirk opened the door: “Todd, what about Trillian?”

The days after Dirk had found the pets, he had succeed to contact Gordon Rimmer, who had allowed Dirk to keep Rapunzel. However, the man never had any cat. At first, Dirk had been ecstatic with the idea to have a kitten, but Todd had made him post online ad and flyers. As nobody contacted them to claim the cat, Dirk was looking for a name for her. And he was asking Todd’s opinion every time he had an idea.

“What kind of dumb name is it?” Todd answered.

“Isn’t she one of the protagonist of the guide to england?”

“The what?”

“Anyway, you’re right Todd, silly name. I’ll find something else.”

Todd rolled his eyes as Dirk left. He looked back at Farah who was smiling at him: “Finally, you like him.”

“I don’t, he still annoys me. But you were right, he’s a nice guy.”

“You know, he’s coming tonight.”

“Okay.”

“And he was sad that you aren’t.”

Todd crossed his arms: “You know I don’t do well with lot of people.”

“And I already promise you that it won’t be crowned. It’s much worse in your punk concerts.”

“It’s not the same thing and you know it.”

“Look, it’s just a pub with our colleague. It will be a calm night and you’re gonna have fun.”

 

* * *

 

Todd didn’t have fun.

He had managed to change the topic by promising that he would think about it. But as soon as he had finished his work, he had sneaked back home. However, Farah knew where he lived and had dragged him to the pub. Dirk was the only one who seemed happy to see him.

Todd first stayed with Farah, but he quickly felt left out the conversations the woman had with their colleagues. Sometimes, he forget how at ease Farah could be with others considering her anxiety and paranoia.

He then talked with Ken, but the men received a call and had to leave. “My best friend did something stupid and dangerous” he said, shrugged.

So Todd was waiting in front of the bar for someone to refill his glass with beer.

Dirk sat next to him. He was still wearing a tie and a shirt, the sleeves rolled up until his elbows, and Todd was convince that the blue jacket who was hanging on a chair was his. He wondered how many jacket the man had. There was a spark into Dirk’s eyes, witnessing that he was a little drunk. He smiled: “I’m sorry Todd, I didn’t have a chance to talk with you tonight yet.”

“It’s okay Dirk.”

“Tonight is so fun! You learn a lot more about people life here than in the office! I love it! Why don’t you talk more with them, Todd?”

“I’m just… not very good with people.”

“Neither I am. But it’s not a reason not to try. You can’t be good at something if you don’t do it.”

“What are you talking about” Todd sighed.

“That you should talk more with people. They’ll probably love you more than you think.”

“Yeah right” Todd sarcastically responded as he took a sip the beer the barmaid just brought him.

“I guaranty it! It’s not because you were a jerk by the past that no one could like you today!”

“What?”

Dirk didn’t respond. He smiled and listened to the song blasting from by the pub’s speakers. This achieved to make Todd angry: “Answer me, asshole!”

Dirk looked back at him, surprised: “I’m sorry! Did… Did I do something? I didn’t mean-”

“Shut up for once! If I hear an other word coming from your mouth I promise you I gonna punch it! Stop talking like you know me! You don’t know me, alright?!”

“I don’t” Dirk answered, apparently not impressed by Todd threat. “But I would like to.”

“I wouldn't! You’re the most annoying person I ever met! I don’t want to be friend with you! Leave me the fuck alone!”

Dirk’s expression became harsh. He looked at Todd and spilled: “Don’t take it out on me because you’re a jerk no one want to be with.” As soon as the words were out, Dirk’s face became distressed and tears started to fill his eyes. “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t want to say it. It’s… It’s not true, I’m...”

But Todd didn’t listen to him. He stood and grabbed his stuff.

“What is happening?” Todd recognized Farah’s voice. He also noticed that the pub was quiet.

“I’m leaving.”

“Todd...” Farah grabbed his arm but he removed it and walked out without looking at anyone.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t want to talk to you” was the first thing Todd said to Farah when she phoned him the next day.

It was Sunday morning, and he was preparing his breakfast, mulling over and over what happened the night before.

“What?”

“What did you tell to Dirk?”

“I should be the one asking that.” Todd didn’t answer. “Todd, what happened last night?”

“Nothing...” he laid against his counter, sighing. “Let’s just say I was my actual jerk, okay?” He sipped his coffee.

“It’s funny, Dirk said it was his fault.” Todd didn’t respond, processing the information. “And he was almost crying.” Todd was still silence. “Todd, talk to me. I don’t understand what happened.”

“He was looking into things he has nothing to do with. But I was to harsh with him.”

“What things?”

“My life, Farah. Since the second we met he’s trying to invade my life.”

“That’s because he likes you. He shows it like this because he’s… clumpy. And weird. But it’s just an evidence of his affection.”

“I don’t want his affection.!” He was now perambulate in his kitchen. “And he shouldn’t want mine because I’m, according to him, a jerk!”

“I can’t believe he said that...”

“Yes he did. And I don’t know what you told him but I don’t-”

“What I told him? What do you assume I said anything?” she sounded pissed.

“Because you’re the only person we both know who know me enough to tell how much of an asshole I am.”

“I don’t talk about your life with other people.” Todd could tell she was hurt by his statement.

“You… you probably told him about the time we were together-”

“I didn’t.”

There was a long silence after that, Farah waited for Todd reaction and he was to scared to say anything else who could hurt his friend he didn’t react. Finally, Farah sighed: “Alright, be angry if you want to, but tomorrow go explained yourself with Dirk. I’m sure it’s just a big misunderstanding.”

“Why do you act like him and I were friends? We are not!”

“Todd, please, for once in your life, stop pushing people away.”

She hang up before he could respond.

 

* * *

 

Todd looked by his office window. The clouds were gray and low. He hopped it wouldn’t rain before he make it home.

The sound of footstep behind his door would break his focus on the weather. The sound of footstep behind his door broke his focus on anything that day. He never realized how many people passed behind his door during the day without stopping. Now Dirk was one of them, and he didn’t think he could miss being disrupted several times a day by an annoying man.

He started raining.

During his lunch break, Farah had told him that Dirk was eating in his office. She was really pissed at Todd and the whole situation and barely spoke. Todd returned quickly to his office.

Despite that, he ended up finish late, unable to concentrate and complete the simple task. The office was almost empty as Todd made his way out to the elevator. He looked at Dirk’s office door, wondering if he was still working and if he should talk to him. He walked away.

He stepped out of the elevator at the first floor. The corridor was dark because of the rain but Todd still recognized Dirk in his yellow jacket. He was standing in front of the entrance, looking the rain falling.

Dirk turned to look who had exited the elevator, and quickly turned back when he saw Todd, embarrassed.

Todd stayed put a few seconds before walking with a determined step. He had deciding to walk pass Dirk without talking to him. But as he came closer to the other man, his steps became slower, until he stopped at his level.

The two man stood in silence, looking at the rain.

It was a really heavy rain. Dirk was probably waiting for it to pass.

Todd wondered what to do. Shouldn’t he start talking? Apologizing? Ask explanation? Walk away? Waiting for Dirk to talk? He seemed to want to. Todd could see him nervously swinging on his feet, turning his head toward Todd and back to the door.

Todd wondered when the rain would stop.

The elevator opened behind them and they looked who stepped out. It was a good looking young man in a black suit. Todd didn’t know him. Dirk gasped.

“Gently?” the stranger asked.

“Hi, Friedkin.”

Todd looked at Dirk while the other man walked until them. He seems a little uncomfortable.

The two men shake hands and Friedkin turned to Todd: “Hello?”

“Oh, this is Todd my… colleague.” Todd felt the bit of hesitation and sadness in Dirk’s voice. “Friedkin his my former colleague.” They exchanged a handshake as Dirk asked Friedkin: “What are you doing here?”

“I had a appointment with one of the company. Like you I suppose.”

“No I’m- I’m working here.”

“A multinational is in this cheap local?”

“No.” Dirk stopped, waiting for Friedkin reaction. But apparently the guy didn’t understand and looked blankly at Dirk. “I’m working in a local company.”

It took more time than necessary for Friedkin to assimilate the information: “So it’s true? You really are stupid, Gently! Well, it’s not like anyone had any doubt about it anyway. But combine so much stupidness with being a weirdo must be difficult in a daily basis. It was difficult for us anyway.”

He linked up all the insults with ease and a detachment which horrified Todd. He looked at Dirk, who was shamefully looking at his feet. It was to much: “Hey, what’s your problem man?!”

Friedkin looked at Todd, who became really aware of his muscle and how he could probably knock him down with one punch. “What?”

“You think you’re funny? You think you’re cool? Well you’re not! You’re just a pathetic asshole and you should live Dirk alone!”

For a moment, Todd though that it was it, that Friedkin would punch him and send him straight to the hospital. He hopped that at least Farah would avenge him.

Friedkin’s phone ringed.

“Yes sir? … Yes I just left it.” The man seemed to shrink as he spoke in the phone. “But I run into Gent- … Yes sir. Sorry sir. … I’m coming right away.” He hang up the phone and looked at Dirk and Todd, leaving with the simple statement: “I have to go.”

Both men watched him running through the rain in silence.

Eventually, Todd said: “What a jerk!”

“Well he’s… He’s mostly idiot. Just repeating what others said. He’s more a parrot than an human, really.”

“Still, you shouldn’t let him talk to you like this.” He looked Dirk in the eyes. “You shouldn’t let _anyone_ talk to you like this.”

“But… You… You…” Dirk stuttered.

“I was an asshole. Well, I still am.”

“Thank you.” There were tears in Dirk eyes.

Todd looked away, embarrassed. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”


	2. Chapter 2

It was a beautiful day. The sun was out, with a few clouds passing in front of it every once in a while. It was still a little to much windy to stayed out in a terrace but Amanda had insisted. She was smoking her cigarette, tucked into her leather jacket, her head leaning backward and enjoying the sun. In front of her, Todd drunk his beer, navigated on Internet with his phone. They both run out of topics for a conversation, even if time to time Todd would show her a meme, or Amanda would comment some passer’s style. Todd loved those afternoon with his sister. It reminded him of the time before their fight.

“Todd!” a voice with a British accent called him. He took a deep breath. The quiet afternoon was over: “What a coincidence to see you here!”

“Hey Dirk.” Todd turned toward him. Dirk was wearing his green jacket, Todd noticed that with his one his hair seemed ginger, and had Rapunzel in a rainbow leash.

“You’re Dirk?” Amanda asked, looking the man over from head to toe.

“Yes, and you are?”

“Amanda, Todd’s sister. I hear so much about you!”

“You do?” Dirk blushed. “I’m sorry but Todd didn’t even mention you.”

“Of course he didn’t, but he barely mentions you either. I learned all about you from Farah.”

Todd blenched when he heard that. He didn’t know Amanda and Farah were talking so much about Dirk, and it alarmed him. Since the two men had reconciled it was more than obvious that Farah was trying to settle them down. A few times, she had invited Dirk to join her and Todd to drink after work. And every time, she had arrived half an hour late, which was not like her, or left early. She had also tried to convinced Todd to hang out more with Dirk out of work, and every time Todd sent her packing. But if his friend and his sister allied, he would never see the end of it.

“Do you want to sit with us?” Amanda asked Dirk.

“With pleasure!” Dirk grabbed a chair and took a seat next to Amanda. He looked like a very excited puppy. Rapunzel started sniffing the woman’s feet.

“Hello you!” she patted her. “Is this the dog who belonged to a murderer?”

“She is!” Dirk responded proudly. 

“So punk! And did you find a name for the cat?”

“She seems used to Kitty now.”

“Well, it’s a easy name to recall.” Amanda smiled.

“I love your jacket!” Dirk continued.

“Thanks.” She proudly highlight it. “Yours is cool too. Todd, you need to step up to our level.”

In his denim shirt, Todd drunk his beer and mumbled a grumpy “Yeah.”

The two others didn’t seem to hear him as they kept joyfully chatting. They talked quickly, jumping from a topic of discussion to another. They stopped only when the waiter came over, asking Dirk if he wanted to drink something.

Todd didn’t manage to enter the discussion. He just watched them get along, and it recalled him a little what happened three years back.

“You play in a band?!” Dirk excitedly exclaimed.

“Yep. Me and my boys play a lot around Seattle.”

“I would love to hear you play!”

“No you wouldn't. We’re awful. But if you want to see for yourself, we’ll have a concert next Saturday. Todd can bring you.”

“Okay, I’ll be there!” Dirk responded, which made Todd sigh. He would have prefer to be consulted about this decision.

“Cool.” Amanda nodded. “Anyway, I have to go to rehearsal.”

They all left the café and Amanda and Dirk kept talking. Todd asked himself if he would have some time alone with his sister. Shortly after, Dirk left them.

“Farah was right,” Amanda said. “He’s a cool dude.”

“He’s okay.” Amanda rolled her eyes. After a short silence, Todd asked: “Did you invite him to your show to set me up with him?”

“Farah things you two are a perfect match,” she replied.

It was Todd’s turn to rolled his eyes: “Why can’t you stay out of my love life?”

“Because, when you’re on your own, you only bring back assholes and losers.”

“I brought back Farah.”

“No, Farah brought  _you_ back. And  _you_ screwed up. And I wasn’t there to stop you. And it will never happen again.”

Todd didn’t know if he should still be pissed off, or touched by his sister’s words. He decided it was a bit of both.

 

* * *

 

Todd and Farah were waiting in front of the shabby tinny hall where Amanda and her band were performing. Another band was already playing and the music was blasting out of the building.

“Todd! Farah!” Dirk cried as he ran towards them. He stopped in front of them, breathless. He was still wearing a shirt and a tie, with his yellow jacket. At the sight of it, Todd realized two things. First, that he never saw Dirk in anything more casual. Second, between Dirk’s outfit and how gorgeous Farah was in her slim black jean and her blue blouse, he felt like crap in his Ramones shirt and his hole littered pants.

“Sorry for the wait” Dirk eventually said. “Am I late?”

“No” Farah responded, “ _The Rowdies_ don't play for half an hour, don’t worry.”

“ _The Rowdies_?”

“ _The Rowdies_? ”

“ _The Rowdy 3_ , Amanda’s band.”

Dirk nodded in response.

They entered into the bar, and Todd felt instantly at ease. It was loud, it was crowded, it was reeking of beer and sweat, and it felt good.

“FARAH!!!” Amanda yelled as she jumped onto Farah for a bear hug, or at least what could have been a bear hug if one of her hands wasn’t holding a cup of beer.

“Hi Amanda” Farah responded once she had recognized her assailant, hugging her back.

“Dirk! You came!”

“Of course.” It seemed like Dirk wanted to say something else but was shut up by Amanda’s hug. His eyes widened for a second but his smile came back, wider than.

Todd took profit of his younger sibling’s inattention and stole her beer. “Hi, sis.”

“Don’t you dare Todd! It’s my free beer!”

Todd slowly took a sip while looking straight at her, and then gave the cup back. Amanda took it, and punched her brother in the shoulder. 

“Come on Dirk,” Amanda said, ignoring Todd’s scream of pain. “I want you to meet the other members of _The Rowdy 3_! ”

She conducted her friends to a zone in the back of the hall, where the bands playing that evening were waiting for their concert, or enjoying the rest of the night. They stopped at the table where the rest of  _The Rowdy 3_ was drinking, all of them with a leather jacket like Amanda.

If Dirk was surprise when Amanda introduced him to four men, he didn ’t show it. 

“Guys,” Amanda said, “here’s Dirk Gently.”

“Hello!” said Dirk, waving.

_The Rowdies_ looked at him with menacing glares which didn’t put Dirk at ease. He was frankly scared when a growl exited Martin’s throat.

“Dudes, be nice.” Amanda commanded as she pushed Cross so she could sit next to him on the bench.

“Don’t worry” Todd said to Dirk. “They’re messing with you.”

Dirk nodded but the manic laughs from three of the _Rowdies_ didn’t reassure him.

“Yeah,” Martin told him with a creepy smile. “We ain’t gonna hurt you… yet.” Dirk swallowed.

Than, they proceed to do actual introduction and salutation. Shortly after, a staff member came to ask _The Rowdy 3_ to gained the backstage. As the band left, Todd, Farah and Dirk went to buy beers.

“Amanda’s friends seem...” Dirk began when they were waiting for the barman to notice them. The pause made Todd believe he was searching a polite term to describe _The Rowdies_. “Dangerous.”

“They were messing with you” Todd responded at the same moment as Farah said: “They are dangerous. Those men will hurt you if you wrong Amanda. Or wrong all the band. Or if they think you deserve it, and sometimes it’s not really obvious to know what they think-”

“Farah!” Todd exclaimed, dragging the woman out of her rambling.

She blinked, looked at Todd who shoot her a discontented glare, then at Dirk and his widen eyes. “But don’t worry!” Farah tried to fix it up, “They will not attack you… probably.”

The time they get their beer, the band had stopped playing and they had set up _The Rowdy 3_ ’s instruments. When they found a empty table to sit at, the band stepped on the stage. Amanda sat behind the drum as Cross took his guitar, Gripps his bass and Martin stood behind the microphone. Dirk leaned toward Todd and asked: “Where is Vogel?”

“He doesn’t play any instrument.”

“But… he’s a member of _The Rowdy 3_ , isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“So shouldn’t he be on stage, even if he doesn’t play music?”

Todd smiled. Of course Dirk was more confused by the fact that one member of a band wasn’t on stage than the fact that the said member didn’t know how to play music. “He’ll be on stage later, don’t worry.”

Dirk nodded and returned his attention to the stage. He looked like a kid at a circus, with his huge smile and the spark in his eyes. Todd was convinced that his friend was making an effort to stand still.

Sitting on the bench, Farah was busy cleaning their table with a tissue and stacking the empty cups left behind by other people in a corner of the table. Todd used the time that the light was still on to look at the crowd in front of the stage. 

He didn’t recognize most of them, and half of the people here were probably here to enjoy a punk show and never heard of _The Rowdy 3_ before. But Todd still spotted some familiar faces, mostly closer to the stage. The band succeeded in growing an audience during the last five years, and Todd realized with relief that he felt happy for his sister and her friends.

Martin looked at his musicians, making sure they were ready and smiled. He howled in the mic. 

Todd could see Dirk’s perplexed expression before the lights turned off.

Several things happened simultaneously; a few people in the audience howled back; two spots, one red and one green, turned on and moved to the stage; and the musicians started playing. 

_The Rowdy 3_ was an average hardcore punk band: short songs, simple but effective melody, oversaturated instruments, lyrics about destroying the system. But when they were on stage, they knew how to play a show.

Martin and Cross were always at one hundred per cent from right after they played the first note. They both were running and jumping around the stage, interacting with the audience. Because of that, Cross often missed a note or wasn ’t in front of his microphone when he had to sing. But if you didn’t know the song, you wouldn’t notice it. 

In the middle of the first song, Martin took off his leather jacket, already covered with sweat. Cross used the short time before the second song to follow suit.

Amanda was on fire behind her drums. When the lighting changed in the beginning of the second song for three motionless red spots in the back of the stage, it was easier to see all the energy she put into every one of her beats. She had fun and was where she belonged. 

Gripps was more still than the other musicians because he was playing his bass old style. But when Cross jumped in front of him, he responded with as much energy as him.

Martin took profit of the instrumental part to take a little bottle of water. He drank half of it and throw the rest of it on his head. Once the bottle empty, he tossed it in the audience, shook himself and screamed. His scream was imitated by his musicians and a few people in the crowd. 

Amanda took off her jacket at the end of the song.

Todd profited off  the brighter lighting of the third song to look at Dirk. The man seemed both fascinated by what was happening on stage and overwhelmed by it.

This song was a cover of Christian Lunch’s “ _Joke’_ _s on you_ ”.

As soon as Martin screamed “March!” Vogel stepped on stage, mimicking a military march.

Without really realizing it, Todd watched Dirk, and saw how happy he was at the young Rowdy’s entrance.

Some people in the crowd, probably some regulars, cheered and soon after, the rest of the audience did the same.

Vogel had made his way to Martin, who had put his free hand on the back of his head. They both stood front against front. It was Vogel who sang the line “So shut up America and pay through the nose” while Martin howled once again.

It was Gripps’ turn to take off his jacket. 

Vogel stayed on the stage after that, causing as much mayhem as Martin and Cross together. He was jumping, dancing with Gripps and Cross, tapping on Amanda’s drums, singing with Martin and screaming into his mic. His feet got caught up in a wire and unplugged the guitar, but he fixed it with the speed of a person who’s used to that kind of blooper. Vogel end up jumping into the audience and crowd surfing, soon imitated by other people. 

The crowd was overexcited after that. Even Todd, used to this madness, was cheering and screaming from his chair. He saw Dirk being as excited as him which made him oddly feel warm. It was soon obvious however than Dirk was mostly mimicking the crowd. He cheered when Martin announced that their next song would be a cover of the  _Sex Pistols_ . He had told Todd two days earlier that he never heard of that band. 

Somehow, Todd didn ’t care.

Vogel came back on stage for this song. He was so sweaty that water flew from his hair every time he shook his head. The young man finally took off his jacket and turned it toward his head as he ran back and forth on stage. Meanwhile, Martin was singing from the bass drum, which didn’t seem to perturb Amanda.

After that, the band calmed down a little, apart from the jumping, dancing and screaming. But the audience did not. They kept crowd surfing and cheering and singing and when The Rowdy 3 arrived at their last song, a cover of _Agnostic Front_ _’s_ “ _Gotta go_ ”, the whole hall sang the chorus, “Gotta gotta gotta go”. Even Dirk and Farah quickly got it.

The room was fully lit once the last notes faded, showing five very breathless and sweaty musicians. 

Martin did a final speech, thanked the audience, introduced the band and gave their social media handles. A little voice in Todd’s head told him the musician was really hot. Then Martin howled a final time, and he was joined by more people than the start of the concert. And Todd recalled that he was a creep.

He brought his attention back to Dirk, who was still looking at the stage: “So, Dirk, how was your first punk concert?”

Dirk looked at him and said with a bright smile, shinny eyes and a voice that sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world to Todd: “Amazing, Todd!”

 

* * *

 

Dirk screamed as Vogel jumped at him from behind him and yelled in his ear. The other  _Rowdies_ were amused by it, even Amanda.

It had been almost half an hour since their show had ended, and the next band had already started playing. _The Rowdy 3_ were less sweaty but they didn ’t seem to consider putting their jackets back on yet. Their hair was messed up, or at least Martin’s and Amanda’s because they were the ones with a haircut, and Amanda’s makeup had melted.

Amanda sat next to Farah and Vogel let himself fall next to her. The other men grabbed some chairs. Gripps ended up next to Dirk, and ominously smiled at him.

“So Dirk,” Amanda’s smile was much more friendly, “did you enjoy the show?”

“Enjoy the show?! I _loved_ it! ”

“Come on” Amanda rolled her eyes.

“No, really Amanda! You are awesome! I mean, I never been to a concert before but I’m still sure it was a great one!”

“Cool!” Amanda said, a huge smile on her face. The Rowdies had stopped looking at Dirk with menacing glares and smiles. Somehow, it scared Dirk more. “So guys, who wants some beer?”

“I’ll go get it” Dirk responded, already standing. “I want to thank you for inviting me.”

“You don’t have to...” started Amanda, “…and he’s already gone.”

Todd sighed and followed Dirk. As he walked away, he heard Vogel exclaim, “I like him!”

When he caught up to Dirk, he was already at the bar.

“Todd! Do you want something?”

“Just helping you carry the glasses.” Todd answered casually.

“Thank you!” Todd didn’t look at him, but he knew that Dirk had his huge, dumb, beautiful, smile on his face.

Dirk grabbed the first four beers served by the barman and walked back to the table. He tried to make his way into the crowd when a man collided into him. Dirk ended up with beer on his hands and sleeves, but almost all the contents of one cup was all over the other man’s shirt.

“I’m sorry-” Dirk started.

“Fuck! Watch where you’re going jackass!” The man was a little taller than him and stunk of alcohol, and it wasn’t just because of the drink on his shirt. Dirk knew he was dangerous. “I’m sorry” he repeated. “The room is really crowed, we should both be careful-”

“Both?!”

“Well, you are the one who knocked into me-”

“Asshole!” the man grabbed Dirk by his collar. The latter couldn’t stop a shrill and panicked sound coming out of his mouth.

“Hey, what’s the matter man?!”

Dirk turned his head to see Todd next to him. The man looked at him but didn’t release Dirk. “You want to play hero, hobbit?”

“Just… leave him alone!”

The man grinned, remove one hand from Dirk’s collar, and put it on Todd’s. Todd’s face showed how much he regretted every choice that brought him here. He dropped the beers.

“Hey!” The man looked over his shoulder where Amanda was standing, trying to look menacing. “Release them. Now.”

“You must be kidding me...”

At the same time the man said that, Dirk felt someone taking the cups from him. 

Vogel threw what was left in the cups at the assaulter’s face.

As a reflex, the man let go of Dirk and Todd, who took a few steps back as Gripps stepped in.

“I do not like him!” he said before head-butting the man.

He held is head and moved backward, walking right into Cross, who grabbed his arms and immobilized him. The rowdy was laughing like a mad man, and the attacker was turning white.

“Boys,” Martin stepped into the man’s view. He was the only one who had pulled his jacket back on. “Stop attacking him. There’re honorable people trying to enjoy a show.” He grinned like a maniac. “Take him outside.”

“You are not assaulting this man outside!” Farah commanded from next to him.

Martin stared her right in the eyes. Farah didn’t turn away. They stayed like this for a few, long seconds before Martin looked away and uttered a groan which seemed to be one of agreement, considering that the other rowdies seemed disappointed. 

At the moment, a bouncer arrived. “Is something wrong here?”

Farah took the man from Cross gripped and gave him to the bouncer. “This man assaulted our friend. You should get him out before he causes anymore trouble. Also, he is not in any shape to drive, so make sure he can’t take a car.”

In front of Farah’s natural leadership, the bouncer nodded and took the other man away, ignoring his screams of protestation.

“You’re okay dudes?” Amanda asked Dirk and Todd.

“Yes we are,” Todd responded, “thanks to you guys.”

Dirk was looking at the empty cup on the floor. “The beer...” he started.

“Don’t worry about it” Farah said. “I’ll buy others. Go sit back and relax okay.”

Dirk nodded and obeyed. Miraculously, their table was still unoccupied. Dirk sat on the bench and looked at the concert. This band was good, but not half as good as  _The Rowdy 3_ if anyone asked Dirk. In the back of the crowd, he spotted Amanda, Todd and Vogel, dancing. Something tilted into Dirk minded and he looked who was with him at the table.

He was only with Martin.

He starred at the other man, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Cross and Gripps ’re with Farah” he answered the unspoken question.

“Oh… very well!” A silence followed which seemed awfully long to Dirk. “Thank you for helping me back there.” he finally said.

“No worry. Ain’t gonna let anyone other than me and my boys hurt you, right?” he grinned. 

Dirk swallowed.

“I’m kidding, relax. We ain’t gonna touch you, you’re our drummer girl’s friend.”

“Well… I’m not sure Amanda and I are friends, we barely met once before...”

“Well, she likes you. Probably ‘cause the other one likes you.”

“The other one? Do you mean Todd?”

“Yeah.”

Dirk looked at Todd. He was still dancing with his sister, with a smile Dirk never see him wear before.

“Anyway,” Martin continued, “as long as Amanda likes you, me and my rowdies got your back.”

Dirk nodded and turned away. He didn’t trust himself to talk without tearing up. 

 

* * *

 

“Sorry Dirk, you live in the opposite direction of where we’re going.”

The show was over. The Rowdy 3 had finished filling their van with their instruments. Martin was already behind the wheel, waiting for Amanda to say goodbye to her friends. She asked Dirk if he needed a ride home.

“Don’t worry!” the man responded. “I’ll walk! I love walking! It’s good for the heart and it’s always where fun stuff happens!”

“Yeah, okay.” Amanda laughed.

“Just...” Farah sighed. “Try to not get into trouble again. I don’t want to pick you up at the hospital tomorrow.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“You don’t offer your brother a ride home?” Todd asked Amanda.

“Dude, you also live in the opposite direction. And at only twenty minutes. You can walk.”

“See you Monday” said Farah who had a ride home.

Amanda hugged the two man and jumped in the back of the van. 

They started walking away.

“Thank you so much for taking me Todd! It was amazing!”

“Well, technically Amanda was the one inviting you.”

“Yes, and I should really thank her properly. By the way, your sister is extraordinary!”

“She is” Todd agreed. He added in a whisper: “Of course you like her.”

Dirk tilted his head, confuse: “Is something wrong? Shouldn’t be friend with Amanda?”

“What? No, of course you should! I mean, you obviously getting along well.”

“So, what’s the matter?”

“It’s just… I’m jealous okay? It reminded me of what happened when I introduced Farah to her.”

After a short pause, Dirk asked softly, “What happened?”

“It was back when her and I were dating… Did you know I dated Farah?”

Dirk shook his head softly. He was truly listening to his friend with an adorable look which gave Todd the desire to never stop talking.

“Yeah, so we dated for like five or six months. I had a huge crush on her ever since she interviewed me for my job, but I never did something about it. I mean, I tried to flirt but… she didn’t respond. Until one day, that queer bar did an “all bi yourself” evening and she was there. We both were. … Oh shit, I’m drunk. I talk way too much. Sorry, you don’t care.”

“I do! I meant what I said at the bar: I want to know you.”

Todd turned away. He didn’t like Dirk’s look, it made something tickle inside him.

“Anyway, after a few months, Amanda invited me to one of her concerts. It was the first time she did so, and at this time she was just starting to trust me again, so I was disappointed when she had spent the night talking with my girlfriend. And the fact that my gorgeous, totally out of my league girlfriend got along so well with someone else… I was jealous. I was too jealous really.” Todd paused before whispering. “I was awful with her.”

There was another silence. Dirk decided to ask: “And what happened with Amanda?”

“What?”

“You said that Amanda ‘was just starting to trust you again’. What happened for her not to trust you.”

“She started a band. And I had a tantrum.”

“Why?”

“Because, originally, music was my thing. I had a band when I was in college. It… didn’t work out. I still think of it as the greatest failure of my life. So, when Amanda told me she met some awesome guys and they were forming a band, I got mad. … She just wanted her big brother to be proud and support her, and I let her down.”

“Yes but, you’re making amends. You’re here now, and you support her.”

“You don’t understand Dirk, it’s like you said: I’m a jerk! A huge jerk!”

“I _never_ said that! ”

“Whatever, it’s the same.”

“No it’s not!” Dirk grabbed Todd’s shoulder, stopping them both, and locked his eyes into Todd’s. “Because Todd, I don’t think you’re a jerk.”

They stayed still a moment. Todd felt himself blush.

He was the one to look away.

“Oh” he said. “We’re at my building.”

“Oh” Dirk responded, letting go of his shoulder. Todd walked towards the door. “Good night Todd!”

“’Night” Todd mumbled as he took the keys from his pocket. He was almost pushing the door when an idea stroke him. “Wait!” he exclaimed as he turned back to Dirk. 

The man hadn’t moved. He was looking at Todd, smiling. Todd hesitated for a moment. “Do you want to crash on the couch?”

“Oh, don’t worry Todd!” Dirk smiled. “I’ll walk. I enjoy walking!”

“O-okay. See you Monday than.”

Todd didn’t hear the answer as he rushed into his building.

 

* * *

 

Todd didn’t even look up when Dirk rushed in his office.

The man closed the door behind him before he yelled, panicked: “Todd! I need your help!”

“What happened this time?” asked Todd, already silently agreeing to do whatever his friend would drag him into.

“I found out that Farah’s birthday is in two weeks!”

Todd looked up from his screen: “Did you find out or did Farah invited you to her party?” He already knew the answer, they all received a text last night.

“I found out because she invited me, Todd!” Dirk said like it made sense. Todd rolled his eyes but didn’t have time to reply before Dirk started again: “You have to help me find her a present! Did she mention something she wanted like… A book? A cellphone? A new gun?”

“A gun?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know she likes guns!”

“Dirk, calm down!”

“But it has to be perfect Todd!”

“Amanda and I had a idea, but it’s a little expensive.”

“What is it?”

“Vacation. She never take them by herself. It’s usually Spring who force her to take a break from the job. It has been more than a year since the last time she did so Amanda and I though it would be nice to pay her to take a few days off. Look, Amanda knew this agency...” Todd took out his phone and opened the link his sister send him. Dirk walked behind the desk to look at it. “It organized stay in hotels who offer relaxation and physical activities. A few of them are just a couple of hour of road away from Seattle. That way Farah will know she could come back quickly if any catastrophe happens.” Dirk lend over Todd’s shoulder, looking intensely to the other man, nodding to what he was saying. Todd was a little uncomfortable with how close they were.

“But, it’s expensive.”

“A little. But The Rowdy 3 agreed to take part. And if you and Estevez want to, we should be enough to buy something interesting.”

“Estevez?”

“He’s Farah’s friend.”

“Okay! And why did you not ask Patrick Spring?”

“I- Wait, how do you know she invited him?”

“Well, she organized her party in his mansion, so I think it’s obvious that he’ll be there.”

Though Farah had sent them an address for the party, she never said it was Spring’s mansion. Todd renounced to ask. “I’m just… not comfortable with asking my boss. And the man probably has already a fancy gift for her anyway, so don’t worry.”

“Okay.” Dirk thought a moment before asking: “Were you also jealous of Patrick Spring when you dated Farah?”

“What? No! And I already told you to stop asking me about it!”

“Yes, sorry. Anyway, now that we know what to buy to Farah, we should go get it!” he exclaimed, already walking toward the door.

“Actually, I wanted to do that this weekend.”

“Oh” Dirk answered, visibly disappointed.

“But I guess, you can come with me?”

As soon as Todd said that, Dirk’s face lit up. “I would love to!” he exclaimed as he continued to walk out the office. “This weekend then! Alright! I can’t wait!”

“And bring some money!” Todd shouted as Dirk closed the door.

Once alone, Todd couldn’t stop his stupid lips from forming a stupid smile on his face.

 

* * *

 

Todd checked once again that the money for Farah’s birthday was in his pocket. The others had gave him cash for it and he didn’t feel safe walking around with so much money. It was already the third time he control his jacket’s pocket since he entered the mall.

Next to him, Dirk was ecstatic. He looked everywhere, occasionally stopped in front of a showcase or a stall.

“Dirk,” Todd called him. “We’re not here for shopping!”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to look if they sell something interesting while we’re here, does it?”

Todd rolled his eyes. “Come on! The agency is just here!”

To Todd surprise, his friend obediently followed.

The agency was like every other travel agency: pictures of dreamy destinations were on the wall, a few plastic chairs were next to the entrance and two other in front of a desk where a professional looking lady was smiling at them. “Good morning. Can I help you?”

“Yes,” answered Todd. “We were looking for a trip.”

“Yes. Take a seat.” The men obeyed. “Any idea of where you want to go?”

“I saw that you have a few inns not far from Seattle.”

“We have. But we also have more romantic destination for a couple.” She nicely smiled.

“We-We aren’t-” Todd choked.

“It’s not for us,” Dirk responded, smiling back. “We’re here for a friend. And she will be alone so we don’t need anything romantic.”

“Oh! Sorry for the mistake. So, how long do you want the trip to last?”

Todd had thought that with Dirk and his predisposition to chatting and digressions, they would take an eternity to get anything done. But, surprisingly, Dirk was very efficient here, answering directly the questions. In less than twenty minutes, Farah’s trip was ready. Except for the paper work. During which Dirk lost his patience.

“Dirk?”

“Yes, Todd?” he answered, the persistent tapping of his foot slowing.

“Do you want to stroll in the mall? See if you find something interesting?”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to get angry because you couldn’t find me.”

“Yeah go. I’ll call you when we’re done here.”

 

* * *

 

Dirk didn’t respond to his phone.

Todd groaned as he called him for maybe the hundred time.

He’s been wandering for five minutes in the mall without a sign of Dirk. And he was angry. He was worrying.

He heard some agitation from the corridor in front of him. He kept walking, almost convinced that Dirk involved in it. He still called his number, just in case.

He arrived in the other corridor and he heard Dirk before seeing him. More precisely, he heard the annoying k-pop song he used as a ringtone.

Than, he saw a group of people jumping away from the center of the alley, and Dirk rushed into the new clear path. And he wasn’t the only one: a couple of bald men in black hoodies were following him.

“Todd!”

“Dirk? What the-”

“Run!” Dirk shouted as he grabbed his wrist and dragged him after him. “Were you the one who was calling me? I’m sorry, I was busy.”

“Dirk, who are those guys?!”

“I… don’t… know.”

If Todd wasn’t running like a mad man, he would have scream.

Dirk turned in a corridor on the right, dragging Todd with him. A little ahead of them, a third man was blocking the way. He had a taser gun in his hand.

“Oh shit!” Todd cried as the same time as he was forced to turn around by Dirk. But this path was also blocked by the two first men. Dirk cried out.

Todd spotted a corridor at his right. He dragged Dirk with him.

They heard their pursuers running after them.

Todd was totally freaking out. Dirk had let go of his wrist so Todd was regularly shouting a look at him, making sure he was still here. He only had two ideas in his mind: not loosing his friend and finding a exit.

When one was in sight, the two men rushed into it. They were only at fifty feet of it when a bald man dashed out an adjacent corridor. He pushed over a stall, blocking the access at the door for the two men. They heard the two other pursuers stopping behind them.

The bald man in front of the door spoke: “You should come with us.” His tone was slow and flat.

“Shit, Todd!” Dirk panicked, grabbing Todd by the shoulders. “What should we do?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Todd looked at the two other bald men.

“Will you come with us?” asked Bald Man Number One.

Bald Man Number Three was aiming the shouter at Dirk.

“I… I...”

“Duck!” Todd grabbed Dirk and forced him down.

The taser wires passed over their heads and stabbed Bald Man Number One.

Todd didn’t wait that the man stopped to be electrified. He took the first thing who was at hand- witch means a suitcase, the stall was full of them- and charged Bald Man Number Three. He hit the man’s head with the suitcase before he could react, knocked him unconscious.

The last bald man tried to grabbed Todd and end up with the suitcase in the hand. Todd let go of it and pushed Bald Man Number 2. He tripped over another suitcase and end up on the floor.

Todd turned his attention on Dirk, who just stood up. He took his hand and they both ran into an other corridor.

Todd turned them into an other one quickly.

He then spotted an access reserved to the mall’s staff. And the door was closing. Todd threw Dirk into it and followed, closing the door behind them.

He clued his ear to the door.

“Than-” Dirk started talking.

“Shush!”

Dirk stayed quiet and Todd listened. He tried to hear sounds of running or panic. He didn’t.

He let his legs yield under him and sat on the floor, back against the door.

Todd saw that they had refuged in a stair hall and that an other door was in front of them.

Dirk sat cross legged next to him. “Thank you for saving me Todd! I didn’t know you were such an hero!”

“Me neither. What did they want with you anyway?”

“I am not sure. I was walking around the mall, for once just minding my own business, when I saw those men handing out flyers.” Dirk stopped his story and get one of the flyers out of his jacket. He gave it to Todd.

“Is it Rapunzel?” he asked.

“It is! And it’s what I said to them, explaining that she kind of my dog but not really when they became aggressive. I tried to explained that her owner is okay with me having her, but they didn’t listen so I ran and felt on you.”

“But, what do they want with your dog?”

“I don’t know… Oh! Maybe they’re doing experimentations of dogs, but they need a peculiar type of dogs-”

His hypotheses was cut by Todd laugher. Dirk looked at him like he was crazy, which didn’t help Todd to calm himself.

“Sorry,” he manages to say. “But how- how do you manage to always end up in impossible situation?”

“Not always.”

“You adopted a killer’s pet, you ended up in a fight during your first punk show, and now you were part of a hight-speed chase in a mall! And those are just the ones I know! Come on! You have to admit is not really common.”

“No it’s- I-” Dirk had now his knees pressed against his chest and was waging his feet, awkward. He sighed: “You did tell me your past, I suppose I should tell you mine too.” He paused. Todd left him the time he needed. Dirk took a deep breath: “I have what I call “hunch”. They, usually, draw my attention over details and tell me what I should do with it. It’s never specific, like showing me the name of our company and telling me to apply, but not why I should to that nor what I should do after. From times to times it helps me, like in my job, but more often than not I ended up in situations similar at today.” Dirk tried to laugh, but it sounded false.

“Really? Than how did you survived that long? No offense but I saw you over there!”

Dirk laughed a little more frankly. “Apparently, the Universe didn’t want my death yet.”

Todd didn’t respond. He wanted to know if Dirk had something else to say. Which he had: “When I was in middle-school, I knew the answers to all my exams so I get into trouble with the teachers. But I hadn’t cheat, so they send me to a psychiatrist to see if I was a “gifted person”. A few month after that, Riggins was knocking at my door. He was a military, I suspect from the MI5 or the CIA I never found out, and he told my parents that he could find out what I was, understand me. But, well, he never did, none of his neurologists could. I still passed all my free time doing test and medical examen.”

“When did it stop?” asked Todd. He had the throat tight.

“The second I turned eighteen. I went to university and never contacted Riggins again.” Dirk was sadly smiling at the ceiling.

“I’m sorry, Dirk.”

Dirk looked at him, his eye widen. “Oh no! It’s okay!” He than put his chin on his knees, and whispered: “Without all of this I would maybe never met you.”

Todd decided to not responded to that.

They both stayed silent, sitting next to each other.

They left twenty minutes later, only because an employee discovered them.

 

* * *

 

Todd went to pick up Dirk the night of Farah’s birthday. The British man was highly exciting and, as a result, talked even more than usual. But Todd didn’t really mind. Now, he knew how lonely Dirk were and that he probably was rarely invited to birthday parties. So he accepted this useless, unceasing blabbing, even if it meant that Dirk asked him tree times if he took Farah’s present.

When they arrived at the mansion, Dirk’s excitement grew again. “It’s huge!”

“Well, it’s a mansion.”

“I didn’t know they were people who _actually_ lived in something that big. I thought it was a myth.” Todd chuckled. Dirk spotted something in the garden: “Is that a stable? Does Patrick Spring own a horse?”

“I don’t know, it’s the first time I come here.”

They knocked at the door and Farah was the one to welcome them. “You’re the last one!” she said. “Do you have anything else to take in the car?” she continued, pointed at the men’s bags. They were filled with food and alcohol and what the men needed to spend the night.

“No, we have everything,” Todd responded.

Farah let them in while she kept talking: “Alright. Euh… for the night… do you mind sharing a bed with one another?”

There was a short pause. Than, Todd winced: “Is there no other possibility?”

“There is only one king size left. But one of you can still sleep with Estevez. Or we can see with th other if they agree to change their room.”

Todd looked at Dirk. He shrugged: “I don’t mind sharing a bed.”

Todd looked back at Farah and nodded.

“Wow,” said the woman. “Okay… It was easier than I thought… Give me your stuff, I take them upstairs. Everyone is outside, in the terrace. Just go through the house.”

They followed Farah’s instruction and end up in the terrace. Like she had said, all the other guests; witch mean _The Rowdy 3_ , Estevez and of course Patrick and Lydia Spring; were already here, sitting in front of a table. The rowdies and Estevez were drinking can of beers, Patrick Spring a glass of red one and Lydia had a coke.

“Dirk!” Amanda exclaimed, running to hug her friend.

“Hi Amanda!” Dirk hugged back.

“What did you bring?” she asked as she took the bottle of wine Dirk had in his hand. “Fancy. I gonna put her next to her friend.” She than put the bottle on the table, next to the one Patrick Spring had opened.

Dirk take profit of the fact that Amanda let him go to properly greet everyone else, especially the person he didn’t know. “I don’t think I met you before.”

“You didn’t. I’m Estevez.”

“Oh so nice to meet you! I’m Dirk Gently!”

“I know. Farah had talk about you.”

“She did? Farah!” Dirk shouted at the woman who was exiting the house. “Did you talk to me with other people I don’t know yet?”

Farah smiled: “No, you met all of them now.”

Dirk made a little pout before returning his attention on Estevez: “Anyway, I didn’t heard about you so I want to know everything.”

“Well, I’m cop. Missing person. And Farah and I met at the police academy...”

“Farah! You were a police officer!”

“No, no. I was expelled from the academy. Apparently I wasn’t fit to be a police officer because of my paranoia.”

“But it’s what make you a excellent manager,” Patrick said.

The evening went smoothly, with everyone happily chatting.

Dirk couldn’t help but ask Patrick Spring about the stable. The man told him that he never had a horse and th stable was for a rhinoceros. After that, they kept talking about their pets.

Amanda announced The Rowdy 3’s next show and invited everyone, especially Estevez who never came despite many invitations. The officer responded that his job wasn’t one with a fixed schedule but he would come if he wasn’t on duty.

Once the night came, it became chilly and they all agreed to come back in the house. They sat down in a living room and ate birthday cake while giving Farah her presents.

When she had opened the envelope Todd had gave her, Farah had a mild panic attack a the idea of leaving Seattle. But she quickly managed it. She was mostly touch that her friends thought about her well-being.

She was also happy with Patrick Spring’s present: a ticket for the next weaponry show. When Dirk saw it, he leaned toward Todd and whispered: “See? Guns!” Todd just rolled his eyes.

After that, Amanda put on some music and started dancing. Vogel happily imitated her and Lydia joined them, a little shy at first. Amanda grabbed Dirk and dragged him onto the dancefloor, stopping the discussion he was in with Todd.

Todd didn’t bother trying to engage a conversation with someone else. He just stare at the dancers. Mostly to the one with a shirt and a tie.

Farah sat next to him. “Are you having a good night, Todd?”

“Yes,” he answered without looking at her.

“Do you want to dance?”

“No!” he blurted out, blushing and turning his head to look at her. She smiled. She knew.

“How are you and Dirk going?” she continued, keeping her voice low.

“We’re not…” Todd chocked, her voice as low as his friend. “There’s not “me and Dirk”. It doesn’t exist. Just… stop.”

“Yes, but you want it to exist. don’t try to deny it. You have the Look.”

“You talk like Amanda.”

“We may have talk about this a few times, Amanda and I.”

“Yeah, I figured that.”

“You’re a good pair, and you’ll be a cute couple.”

“No, we will not.”

“Todd-”

“No, Farah! You were right when you said Dirk was a good person. He is, he truly is! And he deserves better than me.”

“You’re a good person too.”

“How can you say that after what I did to you.”

Farah sighed: “Here we are again… Todd, it was years ago. We sorted things out together, and you also did with Amanda. Her and I forgave you, and you should do the same.”

“I know but… What if I hurt him like I hurt you?”

Farah smiled and took his hand: “You will not. You changed Todd, and I’m sure… I _know_ , that you’ll be a better boyfriend.”

“You deserved a better boyfriend,” he whispered.

“You already told me that. And I already told you that you weren’t that bad.”

Todd didn’t respond. They stayed like this for a few seconds. Than, Farah squeezed his hand and let go. She went to sit next to Estevez and Spring.

Todd looked back at Dirk. He was dancing with Amanda and Lydia. Vogel managed to drag Cross to dance. All the group wasn’t moving in rhythm with the pop song blasting from the stereo and was a funny mess to look at.

Todd’s gaze met Dirk’s. The latest smiled and shoot: “Come dance with us, Todd!”

“No thanks Dirk, I pass.”

He hadn’t finish his sentence that his sister was already in front of him: “Dude, when a cute boy ask you to dance, you don’t say no!” And she pulled her brother onto his feet, and didn’t let go until he was in front of Dirk.

Todd started dancing, trying to matched both the song rhythm and Dirk’s movements. It was a nice addition to the preexistent mess. He enjoyed himself. He and Dirk didn’t notice right away that Amanda and Lydia left them alone.

 

* * *

 

Todd climbed into the bed. His phone told him it was five in the morning. He was tired, and dizzy because the alcohol he had drunk all night.

Dirk was wasted. He was lying on the bed, fully dress.

“Dirk.”

“Hm?” responded a sleepy Dirk.

“You shouldn’t sleep with your clothe on.”

“Hm.” For a moment, Dirk didn’t move and Todd thought that he had fallen asleep. But suddenly, Dirk sat on the bed and stood up. Todd asked himself if his friend was on spring for moving like that.

Once he was just wearing his tank top and underwear, Dirk felt back on the bed. He was a few inch away from the pillow, and a few limbs weren’t even on the mattress, but he didn’t seem to want to move.

“Come on Dirk. Get in properly.”

“Hmmm, tired.”

Todd rolled his eyes. He then proceeded to pull over the blanket out from under Dirk, witch was more difficult than he thought. Once he succeed, he threw it over his friend. Dirk’s left side wasn’t under the blanket, but the entirety of his head was, and this was the main result Todd wanted.

Dirk moved under the blanket, and soon two eyes, tiny because of the weariness and the alcohol, were looking at Todd. The shorter man couldn’t help but smile.

“Todd, you’re a mean man. A mean, mean, _mean_ , man,” he stated as he lay over Todd.

Todd pushed him away. “Yeah. It’s all me.”

Dirk let Todd put him back in his half of the bed. His shoulders were against the wall, and he was staring at nothing on the opposite wall. Suddenly, he laughed.

Todd raised a eyebrow. “Do you find it funny that I am a mean man?”

But then, he wasn’t that sure that Dirk was laughing anymore. Was it a tear he saw? Was Dirk crying? Was he laughing and crying at the same time?

“No, no!” He looked at Todd and his eyes were definitely wet. “I’m just happy.”

Todd realized that his vision was better than usual. But also worse. He wondered how drunk he really was.

Dirk sighed. “I hope I can stay with all of you for a little while...”

Dirk was close. Todd was sure that he had pushed him further away. Did Dirk move? Did he move? Dirk was really close.

“Me too,” Todd whispered.

The next thing Todd acknowledged was that he and Dirk were kissing.

Even if their bodies were brushing against each other, they weren’t touching except for their lips. It was fine like that.

Todd didn’t know how long the kiss lasted. He didn’t believe that it was a long one, but he knew that it wasn’t short.

The kiss ended.

Dirk putted a face. Well, more like a multitude of faces, it was his thing. Looking at them, something in Todd told him, screamed at him, that it was important. But Todd couldn't figure what the faces meant.

“Good-night, Todd.” Dirk turned his back at him.

“Good-night.” Todd turned his back too. A feeling was growing in his chest, but he felt asleep before he could identify it.


	3. Chapter 3

When Todd woke up the next day, Dirk was already gone.

He fixed the blankets on the empty side of the bed for a moment, yawning. Suddenly, he recalled that he kissed Dirk.

“Shit!” He straightened up hastily, only to lay back on the bed because his head hurt.

The headache calmed down after a few minutes, but not the feeling that he had screw up. He took advantage of the fact that Dirk was drunk and kiss him. And it was not an excuse that he wasn’t himself sober. He had to talk with Dirk and fix things.

He get up of the bed. He didn’t see Dirk’s bags. He made his way downstairs hurriedly, worrying he'd missed his chance to talk to Dirk.

Once he was downstairs, he heard a few voices and followed them to the kitchen.

Farah was standing in it with a glass of orange juice in her hand and dressed with sport close. She just came back from her jogging. Gripps was also fully dress, leather jacket included. It was a odd contrast with the apron he was wearing as he flipped a pancake. Amanda was the only one who looked like she had partied the previous night; she was still in pyjama, which was an used overlarge man tee-shirt and a legging, sitting at the table and looking absently in her mug of coffee.

Todd sat next to her, making small talk with the others.

“Where’s Dirk?” he finally asked.

“Left with Estevez,” Gripps answered.

“He said he didn’t wanted to leave the pets alone to long,” Amanda continued. “Dude, you should’ve seen him. He had soooo much energy, it was like he wasn’t hangover. It’s awful.”

“Oh, okay.”

At the simple respond, Farah looked at Todd, inquisitive. “Did something happen?”

“What? No! Nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

“Oh gosh Todd!” Amanda put her mug on the table. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“Oh it’s bad,” said Farah.

“What? No it’s not.” Gripps was walking toward the table with a plate of pancakes. “Can I just eat breakfast and get rid of the alcohol in my body?” Todd pleaded.

“No pancakes if you’d hurt a friend,” Gripps answered, putting the plate far away from Todd.

“I didn’t hurt Dirk.” Todd was talking a little too loudly, he felt his headache coming back. “… I think.”

“So you did do something,” Amanda said, taking a pancake.

“N- I-” He sighed. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Is it that bad?” Farah asked, sitting next to Todd.

“No?” Todd hated that he was to tired to lie properly.

“So,” Amanda continued, “why don’t you want to talk about it?”

Todd looked back and forth between the two ladies. He finally surrendered. 

“I… Kissed Dirk, last night...”

His three interlocutors reacted simultaneously.

Farah was genuinely surprised and exclaimed, “What?”

Amanda laughed: “Oooooh! Dude, well done!” She friendlily slapped her brother’s shoulder.

Gripps nodded and pushed the pancakes towards Todd.

“I didn’t expect you to act so quickly,” Farah continued, “but it’s good. It’s good.”

“No!” responded Todd. He definitely had a migraine now. “Listen, we were drunk, it means nothing.”

“It would if you didn’t have a huge crush of him.” Amanda was still laughing.

“I-” He sighed, muttering to himself: “What did I tell you? Why did I do this?”

“Because it would be mean to keep it from us. Farah and I are emotionally too invested in you two as a couple, you can’t to that to us.”

“Well, not _t_ _hat_ invested,” Farah clarified.

“There is no couple! Dirk and I are friend and will remained friend! Stop trying to set us up!”

Todd sudden blow up disconcerted his friends. There was a short silence before Amanda said: “Sorry… I didn’t want to piss you of.”

“I’m sorry too,” Farah told him. “We shouldn’t have pushed.”

“It’s okay. Sorry I yelled.” Todd responded. He saw the discontented glare of Gripps on him, but the rowdy didn’t say anything. “Let’s talk about something else,” Todd continued.

The women did so. But Todd stayed quiet while they were chatting. He was thinking about what he could tell Dirk the next day, at work.

 

* * *

 

Todd looked at the time again. 10:17 a.m.

Usually by now, Dirk had come in his office earlier in the morning just to say hello and then stop by a few times with stupid excuses to chat.

Not today.

For Todd, the fact that Dirk hadn’t visited him yet had only one explanation: Dirk was avoiding him. He felt as awful as the last time it happened, after the night at the pub almost two months ago. But this time, Todd would not wait until he and Dirk were stuck in the hallway to apologize. So he left his office.

As he walked toward Dirk’s office, he gathered his courage. This confrontation with his friend had to happen eventually. He stopped in front of the door. Took a deep breath. Knocked.

There was no respond. He opened the door anyway.

Dirk wasn’t there.

Todd stepped in. It wasn’t odd that his friend wasn’t as his desk. Dirk was often elsewhere, bothering another employee. But something didn’t felt right.

“Todd?” came a voice from behind him.

The man screamed, startled. He turned toward the door, where Farah was standing.

“Shit,” he said. “You surprised me.”

“Sorry,” she responded. “What are you doing here?”

“I-” he cleared his throat. “I came to see Dirk. I haven’t see him all morning and-”

“You too?” Farah cut him, stepping in the office.

“You didn’t see him either?”

“No.” Farah went behind the desk. “And it looks like he wasn’t there at all. His computer isn’t turn on.”

“I’ll call him.”

After what seemed an eternity for Todd, he finally heard Dirk’s voice in the other side of the line: “Hi! This is Dirk Gently’s voice mail. I’m sorry I couldn’t pick up, but sometimes you are in situations where you can’t answer your phone, it’s just li-”

“He doesn’t answer!” Todd shouted.

“It’s weird.” Farah was obviously worried sick but did her best to keep it under control. “But I’m sure it’s probably nothing, right?”

“Farah,” he answered, much less efficiently keeping his worry under control, “once, I leave him alone in a mall for ten minutes and he ended up being chased by a couple of mad men with tasers.”

“Let me grab my coat.”

 

* * *

 

On his way to Farah’s car, Todd called his sister. She hadn’t see Dirk either, nor know where he was. She still insisted on helping them. Todd gave her rendezvous outside Dirk’s building.

When Todd and Farah arrived, Amanda was already there. As they parked, she get out the Rowdy 3’s van and walked toward them.

“I suppose you didn’t hear anything from Dirk,” she said.

“No,” Todd responded. “Did you try to contact him?”

“Yes, but I didn’t have any more luck than you.”

Farah led them into the building.

“Did you try to call someone else?” Amanda asked. “Like, an old friend, or an ex colleague, or...”

“I don’t think he has a lot of other friends...”

“Shh!” Farah ordered.

They were in sight of Dirk’s apartment. The door was slightly open, and no sound was coming from it.

Farah grabbed a pistol out of her pocket and keep moving. Behind Todd, Amanda took out a wrench from her jacket.

They pressed themselves against the wall, next to the door. Farah signaled for them to not move and, after a deep breath, step into the apartment.

A stressful silence followed.

“Clear!” Farah yelled.

The siblings entered the flat.

“Shit!” Amanda exclaimed.

The apartment was a mess. The cupboards had been emptied and their contents scattered on the floor. The drawers had been emptied ans overturned. The couch’s pillows weren’t on the couch anymore, and the mattress wasn’t on the bed.

Farah stepped over a pile of clothes to join her friends. She had a phone in her hand, a cut charger plugged in. “That’s the reason Dirk didn’t respond to our calls,” she said.

“What happened here?” Todd’s worry was turning into panic.

“Looks like a robbery,” responded Farah. “But that's not what worries me. Where are the pets?”

Todd looked around the flat, Farah was right. 

Amanda spoke, “They may have run-”

“I know who did this.” The women turned to Todd in shock.

Todd explained to his friends what happened in the mall a week ago.

“And you say they wanted Rapunzel?” Farah asked.

“Yes.”

“But why?” Amanda said. “What dog is worth all the trouble those guys went to?”

“I don’t know,” Todd admitted.

“But it doesn’t make sense!” Farah was looking at the mess. “If they wanted the dog, why searching the apartment?”

Todd and Amanda didn’t know.

The silence was long and uncomfortable.

“So,” Amanda finally spoke, “should we, like, call the police?”

“Yes,” Farah voice sounded desperate. “I think we should.”

Todd’s phone rang.

 

* * *

 

Dirk was running through the company’s hallway with Kitty in his arms and Rapunzel on a leash. He was a little late for his job. A few hours. A whole morning.

He reached his office and allowed himself to catch his breath. He still had to go see Farah and apologize for his lateness.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said to his pets. “Be good girls while daddy’s not here!”

He hadn’t finished his sentence then the kitten was already scratching her claws on a chair and the dog had begun to whine.

Farah was not in her office. Dirk thought about where she could have been. It wasn’t quite time for her lunch break yet, but maybe she was already with Todd?

As he walked toward Todd’s office, he gathered his courage. This confrontation with his friend had to happen eventually. He stopped in front of the door. Took a deep breath. Opened it.

“Hi!”

Todd wasn’t there.

Baffled, Dirk went back into his office. He dialed Todd’s number on his desk phone.

“Yes?” came Todd’s voice after a few tones. He seemed grumpier than usual. Dirk didn’t know that was possible and felt sorry for whoever made that happen.

“Hello Todd!”

“Dirk?” There were the sounds of two other voices in the background. “Oh my gosh, are you okay?!”

“Yes?” Dirk answered, confused at the question. He decided it wasn’t important and asked: “Where are-”

“Hold on,” Todd cut him off. “I'll put you on speaker.”

After a short pause, Farah was talking into the phone. She had her authoritarian voice on and sounded like she was ready to implode. “Dirk, are you okay?”

“Yes.” He was more confused than he ever was in his, already highly confusing, life.

“Where are you right now?” Farah continued.

“In my office.”

Todd cursed. 

“Seriously?” Amanda said.

“You weren’t there all morning you asshole!” Todd shouted. “And your flat is a freaking mess! What happened?!”

“Oh!” Dirk realized something: “Were you… _worried_? ”

“We were...” Todd groaned.

“Dude, we were worried sick!”

“Yes.” Todd agreed with his sister.

“I was at the vet.” Dirk responded. “I’m sorry. I suppose I may have come sooner if I had abandoned the car closer to work, so my bad, really.”

“Oh no, are the pets sick?” Amanda was concerned.

“Wha- Car- Why-” Todd seemed to have an hard time processing the information.

“Stop.” Farah commanded. “Dirk, we’re on our way to the office. Stay here.”

“Alright, I won't move.”

 

* * *

 

Surprisingly enough, Dirk hadn’t moved. His friends found him in his office, having a phone call.

Dirk watched them step into his office. “Yes. … I’m sorry Mrs. Lee but I have to hang up. I’ll call you back later. Have a beautiful afternoon!”

While he was ending his discussion, his friends had taken a seat in his office. Amanda sat on the desk next to him, Farah forced Todd to sit on one of the chairs and settled herself down in the other. Dirk was looking at her, but Amanda was the first to talk:

“So, you stole a car.”

“I did not! I borrowed it!”

“YOU DON’T HAVE A LICENSE!”

Dirk flinched at Todd’s scream. Rapunzel bolted across the room. The kitten rushed out from under the desk.

Dirk tried to stay composed and wanted to reply but Farah cut him off: “Shut up.” She turned toward Todd. “And you have to stay calm.” He responded with a simple nodded of agreement. Farah turned back to Dirk. “Now, Dirk, you’re gonna tell us where you have been and what happened to you. And you're gonna do this clearly so no one will be mad and yell. Okay?”

Dirk nodded.

“Say it.” commanded Farah.

“Okay.”

She nodded, satisfied. Dirk took a deep breath.

“I woke up this morning and found my phone charger had been eaten by Kitty.” He leant down and picked the cat up off the ground. “She’s kind of a troublemaker. But it made her sick, so I panicked and took her immediately to the veterinarian. On my way I met my neighbor. She’s an old woman and she likes me. She thinks I’m very nice, and she let me take her car, so I went to the vet. I may have overreacted a little. She was puking because she had swallowed some plastic when she was destroying my charger, and the vet told me to come back if she was still sick later.”

“She seems good,” Amanda said, petting the cat.

“So it explains why you were late and didn’t contact us,” Farah stated. “But Dirk, your apartment… someone broke in.”

“Oh… Well, I wanted to go back home and leave the pets but when I was outside my building I saw the _Bad Men._ ”

“The ‘bad men’?” Todd asked. “Do you mean the guys from the mall?”

Dirk nodded. The others exchanged a glare.

“I kept driving but I was afraid they saw me. So I left the corvette in a parking lot.”

“A corvette?” Amanda was impressed.

“Yes. My neighbor has excellent taste. Anyway, I left it really far away, and it took me a few hours to get here.”

A heavy silence followed Dirk’s statement. Nobody knew what to say. 

It was Dirk who spoke again: “Are you still mad at me?”

“What? No!” Todd cried.

“Dude, I told you we were worried,” Amanda continued.

“And now we’re glad you’re okay,” Farah concluded.

Dirk couldn’t help an huge smile spreading across his face.

“Man,” Amanda said, “do you think they were still looking for the dog?”

They all looked at Rapunzel, who looked back.

“They were looking for her the first time,” Dirk shrugged.

“Yeah, but why?”

“Maybe they did _very expensive and secret_ research on her and now she is as intelligent as an human! ”

No one acknowledged his weird theory.

“It was a good call to take her with you,” Farah said. 

“It’s more of an hunch than a call, really,” Dirk responded, both proud and embarrassed.

Farah rolled her eyes but continued speaking: “I’ll call Estevez. But we need to find you somewhere else to stay. You can’t go back to your flat.”

“You can come live with me and the Rowdys. We have a lot of rooms.”

“How nice to you to invite him into your squat.” Todd answered with sarcasm.

“It has electricity and running water,” Amanda responded. “It’s a nice squat.”

“You’ll stay with me, Dirk,” Farah decided. “We’ll go get some stuff from your place tonight.”

“Alright then!”

“So, that’s taken care of.” Amanda get down the desk. “Leave me handle the car. I’ll take it back to your neighbor.”

“Thank you!”

Dirk give Amanda the keys and the car’s location. She left the office, followed by Farah who was already dialing Estevez’s number on her phone.

Todd and Dirk were alone.

There was a long, embarrassed silence.

“Farah handle it,” Todd eventually said. “So… Everything will be alright soon.”

“I know,” Dirk responded. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

Dirk’s smile was radiant. Todd looked away.

“Don’t mention it.”

A new silence.

“I need to-” Todd mumbled. “I have work to do.”

“Oh me too! Who knew missing one morning would created so much work!”

“Yeah… So I’ll go-”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going-”

“Okay.”

“Bye.”

Todd fled.

 

* * *

 

Dirk didn’t see or hear from the bald men again for a while. He quickly went back to his usual life. His friends were the ones still worried about them returning. He could tell by the texts and calls, which were more frequent, and the fact that they were reluctant to leave him alone.

Dirk tried not to think too much about it.

He went to his second concert, and both Todd and Farah had told him to stay out of trouble this time. 

_The Rowdy 3_ were playing in the same type of hall as last time. Same deafening punk music. Same smell of beer and sweat. Dirk still loved it.

They were all sitting around a table with beers in hand when Amanda screamed: “Hey Estevez! You made it!”

Dirk turned around to see Estevez sitting next to him. He didn’t hear him sit down over the music.

“I almost didn't,” the detective responded, “and it’s because of you!” He pointed at Dirk. “Why did you end up in this mess!”

“Hey, man!” Todd interjected. “Don’t blame the victim!”

“What did you find?” Farah asked. She slid along the bench to be in front of her friend, but an extinguisher someone put there without any sort of logic foiled her plan.

“The men after him are part of a sort of cult. We don’t know what they’re doing but we do know that Gordon Rimmer is part of it. And he’s not their only member in jail. The inspectors in charge of the case think that they did their crime for the cult but there’s no proof.”

“Did you find out why they want the dog?”

“No. I interrogated Rimmer but he doesn’t want to say anything.”

“And he’s _very_ aggressive when you ask him, ” Dirk put in.

“What?” Estevez looked at Dirk, eyes wide, “Did you talk to Rimmer?”

“Yes. I wanted to let him know some maniacs were after his dog.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Well, obviously I did so I can.”

“No! Gently, you’re not allowed to contact the prime witness during the investigation!”

“Yeah, whatever you wish,” responded Dirk, obviously not convinced by it.

“What- No, never mind.”

Estevez massaged his temple with one hand and Farah patted the one on the table, compassionate.

“By the way!” Martin put an arm around Dirk’s neck and pulled him toward him. “I heard that you didn’t want to live with us?” His aura was menacing.

“I didn’t have a choice, really,” Dirk responded nervously.

Martin laughed and let go of Dirk: “I hope at least Farah’s place’s nice.”

“It is actually!”

“So, we’re gonna drop Dirk at your place...” Amanda said, directing a huge smile at the other woman. “Can we use it at an excuse to do an after party there?”

“No.” Farah’s answer came without hesitation. “And Dirk isn’t at my place anymore. I found him a new flat and helped him move in two days ago.”

“You’re definitely the more efficient person I know.” Amanda nodded, impressed.

“Thank you,” Farah smiled.

“And this apartment is really nice!” Dirk exclaimed. “It’s bigger than my old one, and it has a little yard so my pets can go out!”

“And it’s secure and no one can walk in and rip up your apartment,” Farah reminded him.

“Yeah, that too!”

“Stop talking about serious stuff!” Vogel shouted. “Let’s dance!” He pointed at the stage where the next band were setting up.

“Oh, it’s a good band,” Martin commented.

“Let’s go then!” Cross screamed as he stood up. He yelled, imitated by Vogel, and they both ran toward the audience.

Martin and Gripps followed them. Amanda signalled for her brother to move so she could get out from the bench. 

“Come on!” she said. She turned towards Dirk: “You coming?”

“Let’s go!” he said, jumping to his feet.

“That’s the spirit!”

She grabbed Dirk and they both ran to join _The Rowdy 3._

“Wait...” Farah called out. But it was too late, they were already gone.

“Don’t worry,” Todd told her. “I’ll keep an eye on them.”

Dirk and the rowdies were at the end of the crowd, waiting patiently for the show to start. The calm didn’t last.

As soon as the music started, all five of the  _Rowdy 3_ vanished into the audience. A few moments later, a mosh pit began. 

Dirk didn ’t seem to want to jump into the crowd, to Todd’s relief. The simple idea of losing Dirk in an overexcited audience almost gave him a panic attack.

But the man enjoyed himself enough. He started by mimicking Todd’s moves but soon he danced by himself. He didn’t know how to dance, but it didn’t stop Todd from joining him.

Dirk didn’t seem to get tired, he was still dancing with the same energy as at the start of the show an hour later. He only stopped when the band was playing a _Ramones_ song.

“Did they say ‘KKK’?” he yelled into Todd’s ear.

“ _Took my baby away!_ ”  Todd sang.

Toward the end of the show, Amanda bumped into them. The rest of the rowdies were just behind her, in their way to rejoin their table and calm down before their own show. Dirk and Todd followed them.

Once at the table, Todd  took his wallet.

“I’m gonna  grab  a drink!” he screamed at his friends, who nodded to show they heard him.

Once alone, waiting for the bartender to  serve of him, Todd realized how sweaty he was. He w as going to  stink after the show. And he knew that the next day, his neck w ould hurt.  P robably his back and legs  too . But damn, did he felt alive, and happy. He looked over his shoulder to Dirk, who was animately talking with Amanda.

Yeah, he felt happy.

In the periphery of his vision, he saw the door to the venue open. He looked at the newcomers automatically. It was a bald man in a black sweater. It was several bald men in black sweaters.

Todd cursed and ran to his friends.

“They’re here!” he said.

“Who’s here?” Farah asked.

“The bald men. The cult.”

“Really?” Dirk’s voice was high with the panic.

Farah was already standing, analyzing the situation.

There were ten men in the room, each one was standing outside the crowd, watching it. Two more men were blocking the main exit, and a third the emergency one. Four other men were escorting a lady in a gray dress. Except for her, they all had electrified weapons.

“Every body down.” she commanded her friends. They all obeyed.

“ We should attack  ‘em,”  Martin  growled .

“We need a strategy,” Farah responded. “Estevez, do you have your gun?” she asked, looking through her purse.

“No Farah, I don’t-” She gave him one. “Oh… Thanks.”

“Did you guys need any weapons?” Farah asked Martin, grabbing a second gun out of her purse.

“ Nah , we ’ re good. ”

As if confirming Martin’s statement, Cross had already  grabbed the extinguisher hanging at their table.

The music suddenly stopped, and a heavy silence fel l o n the hall. 

The lady and her escort w ere on the stage. One of the man had grabbed the singer and  pulled him away from the mic, aiming him with his taser.

The lady had weird tattoo on her face, and was smiling.

“Good evening,” she said in the microphone. “Sorry to disturb your concert. We’re looking for someone and we will leave once we will find him. Dirk Gently? Could you please join me?”

At the name of his friend, Todd grabbed Dirk’s wrist. 

Dirk looked at Farah, who sig naled for him to not move.

The silence was heavy.

“We know you’re here Dirk Gently. Come  with us and no one will be hurt.”

An other silence  followed ,  seemingly  endless.

The lady turned toward the man who was aiming the singer: “Tase him.”

“No!” Dirk cried, standing up. The lady’s eyes locked on him. “It’s me! I’m Dirk Gently! I’m coming!”

The lady didn’t respond. She signed  for  her minions nearest to Dirk to take him.

“Dirk!” Farah whispered. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know!” Dirk whispered back, terrified, as he walked toward the man.

“We need to g et onto the stage.” Estevez murmured.

Dirk and his abductor were disappearing in the crowd.

“Yes.” Farah looked at Martin. “Can you handle twelve men?”

“Of course we can.”

“Great. I need you to  distract the men over there,” she pointed at the bar, “so Estevez and I  can have a clear path to the stage.”

Martin simply nodded. He, his boys, and Amanda sneaked away.

Dirk was dragged on stage.

“What should I do?” Todd desperately asked Farah.

The woman slipped an knuckle duster in Todd’s hands. “You wait the opportunity to do something brave and stupid.”

She and Estevez walked away.

“So,  _you_ are the one after my dog,” Dirk was nervously talking. He didn’t have a mic near him, but the room was deadly quiet and everyone could clearly hear him.

“Where is it?” the lady asked.

“Home of course! Why do you want her?”

“It is not your business. Where’s… “home”?”

“Well, since you’re trying to kill me, I think it’s kind of my business-”

“It has something I want.”

“ How could the dog have anything! She’s a _dog_!”

“Do I have to tase you so you finally tell me what I want?” 

She sign aled one of her minion. The man walked toward Dirk with his taser.

Martin  stood up from behind the bar, howling. He grabbed a bottle of beer and smashed it on the head of the man just in front of him. The rest of the rowdies jumped on other bald men.

The lady turned toward her minions standing  on the other side of the room: “Get them!”

The men hadn’t finished to cross the hall  before Farah and Estevez were running to join the stage,  the screams of the panicked crowd in their ears.

Once on it, two men attacked them, clearly unimpressed by the guns. One had a electrified truncheon, but Farah disarmed him in two goes and beat him with the handle. Estevez toppled the one who assaulted him over the edge of the stage. Two other bald men were already on them. But the fifth, following his boss’ orders, grabbed Dirk and forced him down from the stage. He was dragging him towards the exit, the lady walking right behind him.

Todd saw this happen, and knowing he couldn ’ t let them leave with Dirk, he slipped the knuckleduster on .

The bald man just had the time to wonder why a short guy was standing in front of him before receiving a punch  in the jaw . He fel l ,  knocked out .

Todd looked  over  at Dirk, who  stared back, absolutely terrified. Todd wanted to reach  out to  him, to take him away from the lady.  But he didn’t have the chance.

Behind him, a  cult member  tase red him.

The same man received a blow in the side and lost his balance.

“You fucking leave my brother alone!!!” Amanda yelled as she beat the man with what was the foot of a stool.

Todd fel l . Dirk was crying his name, reaching for him. But the lady grabbed him and dragged him  off  with her.

She was walking with difficulty as her hostage struggled. She still  managed to  reach the exit.

Gripps and Vogle were standing over the unconscious guards.

The lady turned around.

Her stomach met the end of an electrify truncheon.

Cross laughed as he pushed the trigger. 

Just like th at , their attackers were defeated, every one of them unconscious except for one,  at  which Farah’s gun was aiming.

The audience were in the back of the room, quiet. 

Estevez talked into the mic: “Hey, hello! Euh… it’s the police here. Everything is under control so, please, stay calm. My colleagues will be here soon. And, uh,  _The Rowdy 3_ ? Could you please bring all those  bald  guys on to the stage?” 

 

* * *

 

Todd woke up when the police and ambulances arrived. He was immediately carried to an ambulance and taken in for tests. After the examinations, a paramedic told him to stay put for a while and went to look at the bald men’s injuries. 

As he was sitting alone in the ambulance, Dirk came see him.

“H i Todd .”

“Dirk! Are you okay?”

“I’ m fine, thanks to you Todd. ”  Dirk sat next to him.  “ You were like a hero from an action movie over there! ”

Todd blushed a little. “I just followed Farah’s orders. But you’re sure you’re okay? You went through something pretty...” Todd couldn't find the right word.

Dirk shrugged. “I’ll probably not be okay later, when I'm less...” He did a gesture that really didn’t mean anything. Todd understood nevertheless.

“You shouldn’t be alone when it will happen,” he said. “I should stay the night with you.” Todd realized what he was saying a little too late. Dirk was looking at him with wide eyes. “I mean… If you don’t want-”

“No no! I want- No! I- I’m not against but don’t you need to rest because you were injured as well and-”

Dirk was talking so fast, it was amazing that he could still breathe. Todd cut him off:

“Well, we could take care of each other then.”

Dirk smiled. “Okay.”

They stayed there in silence, staring, smiling.

“Hey guys!” Estevez was standing in front of them. “Are you okay?”

“Not really?” Todd responded.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Alright. I can take you home right now if you want. You’ll just need to come into the station tomorrow for questioning.”

“Okay.”

“Same  goes  for you Dirk.”

“Yeah, your colleague already told me that.”

“Let’s go th e n.”

They warned Farah and Amanda that they were going. The lat t er m imed some cheer at Todd when Dirk told her they were  spending the night together. The man mouthed back to piss off. 

Todd felt asleep in the backseat a short moment later , only waking when Estevez spoke to Dirk:

“I was thinking about what that woman said, that the dog had something. It’s maybe not the dog itself but… Did Rimmer give you anything? A toy? A pillow?”

“No. Everything was lost in the fire. I brought her all she needed.”

“You kept her collar,” Todd realized in his sleepy mind.

Estevez followed them into Dirk’s place. He took Rapunzel’s collar into a tissue and examined it.

“It seems like a regular collar...”

“Didn’t it have a plate?” Todd asked.

“Yes, but I threw it away. It didn’t have the right address on it.”

“When?” Estevez asked.

“Well, when I found her.”

The detective sighed. “I’m gonna keep that,” he shook the collar. “And I’ll look for the plate and-”

“You should probably sleep first.” Todd told him.

“Yes. I’ll do that. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

Dirk and Todd were alone. Dirk let himself fall onto the couch. For the first time all night, he felt tired. 

“Can I have a glass of water?” Todd asked.

“Yes, make yourself at home.”

Todd drank three glasses in a row. Who knew being electrified while beating up cultist at a punk show would leave you so thirsty?

He turned back to Dirk. Rapunzel had climbed onto his knees and he was petting her.

“You let her on the couch?” Todd asked. “You’re not afraid she'll damage it?”

“What’s the use of having pets if you can’t cuddle with them on the sofa?”

Todd chuckled and sat on the couch.

He should talk to Dirk about the kiss.

He didn’t have the chance before because they hadn’t been just the two of them, and the rare time it happened Todd didn’t felt like it was the right time with all the cult things happening, but was it the right time now? they just had been assaulted, and he was supposed to spend the night here and help Dirk and making him uncomfortable didn’t seem like a way to help.

He looked at Dirk. Dirk was already looking at him. They both turned around, embarrassed. After a long moment, Todd turned toward Dirk once again. This time, the man wasn’t looking at him but at his dog. He seemed as troubled as Todd felt.

“Dirk,” the man flinched at his name. “Are you… uncomfortable around me?”

Dirk looked at Todd. His expression showed that he was way beyond uncomfortable. He was stressed.

“I’m sorry Todd! I didn’t want to make things awkward!” Todd wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault but Dirk was, once again, talking too fast. “I shouldn’t have kissed you, but I was drunk and didn’t think. Hopefully, I didn’t ruin our friendship?”

“What? No! Dirk, I’m the one who broke our friendship!” Todd could hear himself screaming but he didn’t have enough energy left to do anything about it. “I’m the one who kissed you!”

“ What? ”

“I  initiated that kiss-”

“Todd.”

“-because I’m such a shitty friend-”

“Todd.”

“-and even  through I want us to stay friend I don’t-”

“Todd!”

“What?!”

“You think you kissed me, but I know that  _I_ kissed  _you_ . So, could it be… that we just…  _kissed_ ?”

Todd looked blankly at Dirk. It took a  significant amount of time for his brain to proce ss the information. Once it did, Todd blushed furiously and looked away.

“Do you…  _like_ me?” Dirk said the word like it was a ridiculous idea.

“Maybe.”  A pause. Todd looked at Dirk again.  “ Do you? ”

Dirk turned away, staring at his lap. Rapunzel wasn’t there anymore, she had walked away after Todd had blurted out.

“I do,” he finally responded.

Todd kept looking at him. Dirk seemed so sad and vulnerable.

“Me too,” Todd confessed. “I like you.”

Dirk lifted his head up, and Todd could see all the emotions on his face. The surprise, the relief, the joy.

Todd slid along the couch, getting closer.

“I- Can I kiss you?”

“Yes! Obviously you can!”

Todd chuckled and he cupped Dirk’s face with his hands. They kissed.

Dirk wrapped his arms around Todd, bringing him closer.

They changed position a few times, Dirk ending up almost sitting on Todd’s lap. Dirk moved his pelvis against Todd’s and the shorter man hiccuped in surprise.

Dirk let go of him immediately.

“ Sorry! Am I going too fast?! I didn ’ t realize what I was doing! I am sor- ”

Todd grabbed him by the collar and kiss him again. He let himself f al l backward, dragging Dirk with him.

They cont inued to kiss and  roam their hands under  each  other’ s clothes for a while. It already felt so good.

Todd vaguely wondered when was the last time something that simple felt that extraordinary.

A new thrust made him forget every through who wasn’t here, now, and Dirk. 

Todd straightened a little, pressing his back against the couch’s armrest. The other man moved along.

He captured Dirk’s lower lip between his teeth. Dirk moaned softly. His eyes were darker then usual when he looked at Todd. It aroused him more. 

Todd  slipped two fingers into the knot of  Dirk’s tie and pulled  at  it. He dropped the accessories and proceed to unbutton the shirt. 

Dirk buried his head  i nto Todd’s neck and started kissing and sucking  at  it. One of his hand never moved from under Todd’s shirt, caressing his nipple. Todd’s groan was closer of a scream.

Todd finally finished to unbuttoned Dirk’s shirt, and get rid of it as the well as the stupid, dorky, tank top. Dirk made a groan of frustration as he was forced to move away from the other man’s neck. But he used this  to tak e off Todd’s shirt. He thr e w the clothes away and went back to kissing the neck.

But quickly, he moved down Todd’s body. He kissed  his clavicle, then  his chest. He caressed his sides, and his hips, and  his stomach.

Todd unbuttoned Dirk’s pant and passed a hand under his boxer. He grabbed his butt. Dirk reacted with a thrust of hips.

Dirk’s erection rubbed against Todd’s, who moved his hips back.

Dirk was back kissing Todd’s neck.

Todd moved his free hand to the button of his jeans. Dirk’s hand met his here. They worked together and took the clothes of Todd’s penis. 

Dirk was know under Todd’s ear. Occasionally, he bit the lobe.

The two hands kept acting together, and soon Dirk’s erection was also necked. Each hands grabbed the two penis, keeping them one against the other. The men started moving in sync.

They kissed. A quick kiss because they were soon out of breath. But their mouths stayed close to one another. They shared the same breaths, the same moans. Their body shared the same moves.

Todd came.

He slightly began to cease moving.

“Don’t stop,” Dirk pleaded.

He didn’t.

Dirk came as well.

They stay still for a few seconds. Then, Todd totally laid back on the couch. Dirk snuggled against him.

Todd started playing with Dirk’s hairs. He felt his breath against his chest, his heart beating against his stomach, his heat over him. All of that made him slowly fall asleep. And he was certain Dirk was sleeping already until he heard a soft: “Todd?”

“Hm, what?”

“… I’m glad you are here tonight.”

Todd kissed his head. It smelled  of  Dirk’s shampoo. It was the first time Todd  had  smelled it. It made him smile.

“Me too.”

 

* * *

 

Todd was on the edge of the mattress, so close he would have been falling off if it weren't for the wall. And it was because of Dirk. The problem was that Dirk didn’t take up a lot of space when he slept, quite the opposite, but he was curling up against Todd, his legs intertwined with his, an arm on his belly, his head on his chest. Dirk was an extremely tactile and affectionate boyfriend, and it scared Todd off a little at first. He had been rarely showered with so much affection before. But as the months passed, he got used to it, and now was even capable of giving it back to Dirk. 

He felt his boyfriend waking up against hi,, and soon enough, two sleepy eyes were looking up at him.

“Good morning, Todd,” said a sleepy voice and a bright smile.

Todd gave him a morning kiss, and managed to gain back a few inches of the bed. Dirk stretched and rolled on his back, but he was still against Todd’s side. He pulled his boyfriend’s arm around him and started humming, almost fully awake already.

“What do you want to do today?” he smiled.

It was a day off, and none of them had anything planned until the evening.

“What about a lazy day in bed?”

“I’d like that! Let’s not move from the bed until we have to meet Farah!”

“Actually, I’ll have to go back to my place to change clothes.”

Usually, he brought everything he needed when he slept at Dirk’s place, but last night hadn’t been planned.

“ You have some stuff here, ”  Dirk informed him.

“I do?”

“ Yes. You forget things from time to time. I wash them and put them in the wardrobe. ”

“Dirk, are you trying to make me keep stuff at your apartment?”

Dirk furiously blushed and began to speak faster: “It’s not really something I planned, you know, but I figure that if they were here I could keep them, and it would be easier if you had your stuff handy-”

“You’re right,” Todd cut in, “and it’s more than time anyway.”

“Todd, you had to stop frightening me like that!”

Todd smiled, unapologetic.

They kissed, softly at first, but quickly the kiss became deeper. Dirk caressed Todd ’ s crotch through his underwear,  Todd’ s breath speeding up. He pulled Dirk closer, slipping an hand under  his tank top.

Rapunzel ran into the room, barking furiously. The two man straightened up.

“ You think she spotted something? ”  Todd asked.

“Come on Todd!” Dirk was getting out of bed. “This isn't her warning bark, this is her “I need something” bark! You should be able to distinguish between them by now!”

Todd lay back in the bed as Dirk followed Rapunzel out of the room. 

Estevez hadn’t been able to find the dog’s old plate, it had been destroyed long ago. But since Estevez had informed the cult’s leader about it, Dirk hadn’t been attacked again, so it was probably what they were looking for, though none of the cultists would reveal what they wanted with it.

Todd didn ’ t care. All that mattered to him was that he could now have a quiet life with Dirk. Well, quiet might not be the right term. Indeed, in Dirk ’ s life, you learnt to expect the  u nexpec-

“Oh God, Todd!” Dirk cried from the living room. “You were right, it was a warning bark! Come see it!” 

T odd sighed. So long for the lazy day in bed.

 


End file.
